CEO of China’s first blogging website sees a bright future for this phenomenon 　　When Fang Xingdong accidentally came across people writing personal diaries and journals online in 2002, he recognized an opportunity of a lifetime. In retrospect, he still believes it is the single most important thing to ever happen in his life.
　　At the time China’s IT industry was wallowing in the mire of the IT bubble burst in 2000. Fang’s career as an analyst-turned-entrepreneur wasn’t doing much better. In the three years after 1999, he had to cut back the staff in his small business from 60 to less than 30, often having no money to pay salaries.
　　The 33-year-old businessman plunged headlong into the blogging concept, even coining a Chinese name, Bo Ke, or “plentiful guests,” to make it more localized. In August 2002, Fang founded China’s first blogging website, www.省略, and by the end of 2003 it was the largest Chinese blog service provider.
　　Fang’s farsighted vision was proved correct, as blogging fever has taken China by storm. According to Analysys International, a Chinese Internet, media and telecom industry consultancy, the number of bloggers in China reached 33.36 million by the end of September 2005, more than twice the 14.75 million at the end of 2004.
　　“Initially, in 2002, my idea was confined to creating a tailored website that my friends and I could enjoy. Blogging is first and foremost my hobby and something I love to do,” said Fang, now CEO of Bokee―he changed the blogchina name in July 2005.
　　
　　Dr. Blog
　　
　　Fang has been a keen observer of the Chinese IT industry for the last 10 years and his own successes and failures are directly linked to it. He was admitted by the prestigious Tsinghua University for a doctorate in 1996, majoring in electrical engineering, which he had studied for seven years at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Over the few years after 1996, he wrote extensively on the development of China’s IT industry, then in its infancy, and was recognized as the most influential IT analyst in China. In 1998, he wrote columns for five magazines simultaneously and would often churn out 4,000-word articles in two or three hours. When the wave of IT peaked in the late 1990s, Fang suspended his studies in electrical engineering and in 1999 co-founded China’s first professional IT consultancy. It was not long after that the IT industry went from hero to zero and Chinalabs limped along, struggling for survival, until Fang found his new hope in blogging.
　　At the end of June 2004, Fang filed an application to change his doctoral studies from electrical engineering to journalism, combining his academic studies with blogging, where his interest and future career prospects lie. Fang ruefully told Beijing Review that he is determined to complete his doctorate degree in mass commutation this year, after being addressed as Dr. Fang in this industry for 10 years.
　　“China’s 10-year IT industry history taught me that the first principle of entrepreneurship is to hold on,” Fang said. “To hold on does not guarantee success, but to succeed you must hold on.”
　　
　　Number one
　　
　　Despite Fang’s pioneering status in China’s blogging explosion, he has declined the title of “Father of Blogging in China.” He believes the intrinsic populist nature of blogging has made it impossible to find an authoritative blogging pioneer in China. “Anyone who dares to give himself such a crown will only be ridiculed by others,” Fang said.
　　Fang, a great admirer of the lifestyle created by blogging, believes the essence of blogging is that every blog is a person’s online home, and a visual living environment takes shape out of millions of blogs, each maintaining its own characteristics. Chatting online with fans in November 2005, Fang said people have overstated the infiltration of unsavory material on blogs as opposed to portals or BBS (bulletin board system).
　　“In a bad mood, you might shout bad words in public, but at home you are always more self-conscious of your manners,” reasoned Fang, alluding again to blogs being virtual homes. He does agree that things like pornography, defamatory material and intellectual property theft on blogs should be expurgated by blogging companies themselves, which would see the development of blogging as being helpful to nurturing a healthy Internet environment.
　　Fang said the achievements of Bokee only mark the beginning of his adventure with blogging. Refusing to answer where Bokee has started to make a net profit, he asserted that blogging represents a revolutionary commercial model as much as a new lifestyle.
　　In February, Bokee welcomed its 10 millionth subscriber. According to a report by the Internet Society of China released the same month, over half of the surveyed Internet users chose Bokee as their most-visited blogging website.
　　The explosive growth of blogs in China and huge potential of blogging have spurred lucrative business opportunities. Fang’s Bokee raised $10 million from four multinational venture capital firms in August 2005, paving the way for its prospective initial public offering on Nasdaq. The investment has been the largest venture capital injection in a Chinese second-generation website.
　　“We are now bracing ourselves for a new and larger round of capital injection this year,” Fang said. “Our goal is not only to remain the No.1 blogging website in China, but also to become the largest one in the world.”
　　
　　China Blog Facts
　　
　　62.2% of Internet users, or 69 million, are blog writers or readers.
　　Of all registered bloggers,
　　48% visit blogs four times or more a week;
　　50% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher;
　　35% add new content at least once a week.
　　Source: China Web 2.0 Current Situation and Development Trends Survey Report by the Internet Society of China

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