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Although I usually identify myself as a Canadian, my parents remain Chinese 
And I guess I'm in a MUCH BETTER position to comment on .CN with my extensive knowledge about China (the country) and Chinese (the language).
FACT 1: beatz is correct in pointing out that MOST Chinese don't speak or write English at all. HOWEVER, don't forget that there are 1.3 billion Chinese and even 5% of that is more than Canada and Australia combined and rivals UK and Germany.
FACT 2: Similarly, the on-line population there has already exceeded 50 million and may easily go over the U.S. in a few years' time to say the least. HOWEVER, the majority of these web surfers (incl. regulars) are browsing Chinese websites (although they are used to typing English alpha-numeric characters as URLs).
FACT 3: Chinese do not speak OUR English. Just as we have accents in spoken English (incl. the so-called "General American" accent), there are different Englishes from Australia, UK and India, etc. Even English-speaking Chinese in China know words like "car", "sex" or even "kentucky" (courtesy of 700+ KFC restaurants in China) better than "hardcore" or "celebrity". AND this is also the reason why NUMBER (e.g. 163.net) and Pinyin (i.e. Romanization of Chinese, e.g. sohu.com) sites are SO popular there.
FACT 4: China is a fairly developed country. They have dozens of really HUGH metropolises that are comparable to Texas and Seattle, not to mention Shanghai. I'm not just talking about population but also infrastructure. Living standards (not prices) in the cities are higher than many of their European counterparts in Portugal and Spain, for example. It is also for the same reason that the Internet is quite developed over there. And guess what: there are cybersquatters like us (check out http://www.eachnic.com/club/ if you are able to read Chinese; a couple of them actually frequent here as well), and they are the people who know what exactly is a GOOD name for the Chinese.
My advice is: do more thorough research before you jump (either aboard or off the ship). Personally, I have NOT registered any .com.cn because I know that most of the good names are already gone BEFORE the launch. (Not even nameslave.com.cn: they won't get it, different cultures!) Oh by the way, haven't I told you that third-level .CN domain names have already been in use for a loooong time in China?
And I guess I'm in a MUCH BETTER position to comment on .CN with my extensive knowledge about China (the country) and Chinese (the language).FACT 1: beatz is correct in pointing out that MOST Chinese don't speak or write English at all. HOWEVER, don't forget that there are 1.3 billion Chinese and even 5% of that is more than Canada and Australia combined and rivals UK and Germany.
FACT 2: Similarly, the on-line population there has already exceeded 50 million and may easily go over the U.S. in a few years' time to say the least. HOWEVER, the majority of these web surfers (incl. regulars) are browsing Chinese websites (although they are used to typing English alpha-numeric characters as URLs).
FACT 3: Chinese do not speak OUR English. Just as we have accents in spoken English (incl. the so-called "General American" accent), there are different Englishes from Australia, UK and India, etc. Even English-speaking Chinese in China know words like "car", "sex" or even "kentucky" (courtesy of 700+ KFC restaurants in China) better than "hardcore" or "celebrity". AND this is also the reason why NUMBER (e.g. 163.net) and Pinyin (i.e. Romanization of Chinese, e.g. sohu.com) sites are SO popular there.
FACT 4: China is a fairly developed country. They have dozens of really HUGH metropolises that are comparable to Texas and Seattle, not to mention Shanghai. I'm not just talking about population but also infrastructure. Living standards (not prices) in the cities are higher than many of their European counterparts in Portugal and Spain, for example. It is also for the same reason that the Internet is quite developed over there. And guess what: there are cybersquatters like us (check out http://www.eachnic.com/club/ if you are able to read Chinese; a couple of them actually frequent here as well), and they are the people who know what exactly is a GOOD name for the Chinese.
My advice is: do more thorough research before you jump (either aboard or off the ship). Personally, I have NOT registered any .com.cn because I know that most of the good names are already gone BEFORE the launch. (Not even nameslave.com.cn: they won't get it, different cultures!) Oh by the way, haven't I told you that third-level .CN domain names have already been in use for a loooong time in China?
