Established in November 2002, BlogCN is the first free blog hosting service provider in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Based in the eastern city of Hangzhou

Hangzhou

Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...

, BlogCN has built the world's largest Chinese blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

 community, blog hosting service, and blog search engine

Search engine

A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...

. The Internet portal offers free blog space, but began to charge for value-added services, including mobile phone features

Mobile phone features

There are many mobile phone features found in today's mobile phones that offer users many more capabilities than only voice calls or text messaging.- General features :...

, in 2005. BlogCN simultaneously introduced a virtual coin system to purchase such services. The total value of BlogCN is estimated at US$10,000,000. 70-80% of its revenue comes from advertising. The website is supported by Web 2.0 software.

Notable bloggers

The company first came into the public's attention in 2003 because of its blogger Mu Zimei. Her blog contained straightforward descriptions of her sexual encounters with various men, which was a first for China. Zhiguang Hu, the founder and now director of BlogCN, was featured in an article in the August 24, 2005 issue of BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek

Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...

entitled A Watchful Eye on China's Blogosphere.