ABSTRACT
When the Chinese government announced new regulations on Internet ventures, groans from would-be Internet entrepreneurs could be heard from Guangzhou to New York. The rules were anti-private enterprise and could strangle Mainland e-commerce: Internet businesses were required to register with the powerful Ministry of Information Industry; foreign investment in on-line enterprises was effectively banned. Chinese Internet firms were prohibited from listing on overseas stock exchanges, while Byzantine regulations countered the fervor that fueled Internet growth in the West.
