For so many years, China has placed a block on any website from outside the country. This includes Facebook which, ever adaptive to a challenge, is trying to open the first-ever Facebook office-and foreign website in China.
Engadget reveals that Facebook has already planted the seeds, so to speak. In Hangzhou province, Facebook has already created a startup incubator, Lianshu Science, and Technology. It is registered more as a business advisor of sorts and its main business aim is to help small business owners grow their businesses. It is also licensed to invest in said businesses.
It is a big step forward for Facebook, which has been trying to create a presence in China. There were rumors when it tried to look for office spaces in Shanghai. That was followed by an application for a business permit in Beijing in 2015, but with China being as strict as it was, the efforts weren't rewarded.
BBC reports that there had been plans for Facebook in China ever since 2016. Mark Zuckerberg tried to immerse himself by learning Mandarin. He even visited Tiananmen Square, jogging around the place back in 2016.
However, Zuckerberg had all but given up. Any moves in the country were futile, and there wasn't any headway insight with regards to creating a Facebook presence in China. Even Facebook wasn't known in the Chinese mainland-the social networking site, along with many others, has been blocked from China ever since 2009.
Given China's recent policy to become a leader in worldwide tech, Facebook's plans to put up an office there makes sense. It will be a first for outside websites too, since China's population has been largely dependent on its own network, Weibo.
The local social network, along with WeChat and Sina Weibo, has been big reasons why Facebook found a hard time trying to create a presence in China. Facebook has actually created an experiment with Colorful Balloons, an app released in China with the same features as the Moments app. It didn't make any dent in the Chinese app market, though, failing Facebook's efforts to find out how the Chinese public does social media networking.
