Pity America's poor internet giants, struggling to add big growth onto already bloated and maturing customer bases! Where must their gaze naturally fall but the promised land of China: so big, so enticing, yet so closed to them and so protected by tight censorship and control.
In just the past few weeks, we have seen Facebook try to open an "innovation hub" in the eastern city of Hangzhou, get tentative local approval to proceed but then have national officials slam the door in its face.