[shubb]

A classic move from Japan and South Korea's economic rise was a closed home market, but with home companies forced to export.

This created a safe pool where new local companies could grow before they were able to face international competition. These companies could incubate and then burst onto the international stage.

I wonder if this is an electronic version of, e.g. what Korea does with its automobile industry using taxes...

The gap is that Chinese online companies don't seem to be exporting much as yet. In the case of chat at least, I think it is actually being held back by GFW because you need a chinese phone line to register.