【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 % of online shoppers process bills by online payment, % by mobilephone, % by paymentafterdelivery, % by bank remittance, and % by post office remittance (Ref. Figure 2). The lack of trustable online payment methods bees a big concern for online shoppers.Figure 2: Netizen Online Pay WayChina39。s postal delivery system is mostly dominated by the defacto monopoly, China Posts, which provides plete national coverage. Compared with counterparts of advanced countries, China Posts’ delivery time is long and unreliable, specifically in remote and rural areas. Express delivery services by China Posts are only available in big cities and economically developed provinces. International services are often jointly offered by China Posts and foreign carriers such as UPS. There are cargo services offered by airlines, railway systems, trucking carriers, and boat transportation panies in big cities. However, these services are very different from UPS in many ways. For example, goods are not delivered to customers’ office or home. They have to be picked up at service providers’ central warehouses.This must improve in order to facilitate ECommerce activities. In many cases, especially within a metropolitan area, ECommerce service providers are hiring, or even establishing their own, private delivery networks. There is no sophisticated national private courier pany yet. It is expected that various delivery firms will have opportunities to grow with the diffusion of ECommerce. Policy and Tax Regulation ModelsECommerce has emerged as a new and dynamic field in the world, including in China. Many policy and regulatory issues fall into the overlapping territories of multiple traditional policy agencies. However, it is worthwhile to note that some provincial and local governments are ahead of the central government in formulating ECommerce policies. For example, Guangdong province legislated laws for governing ECommerce in its territory. This is another reflection of geographic disparity, which will lead to varying diffusion patterns in different geographic areas (Zheng et al., 1999).China’s tax system is quite different from that of many other countries. The taxes are distributed among local governments and state agencies. ECommerce vendors are required to pay the same kinds of taxes as regular vendors. However, there is no clear guidance for ECommerce transaction.In summary, the policy and tax regulation for ECommerce is still weak in China. It is lake of protection to the Internet users and market participants from legal point of view. Security and PrivacyConsumers have listed security and encryption as the top concern in many surveys. This is in part because China39。s overall technical and legal environment is too weak to effectively fight fraud. This area also involves multiple government agencies. Several agencies oversee same aspect of the security issue, and each has developed specific policy covering its own concerns.It is interesting that privacy is not a major concern among Chinese consumers based on various surveys even though that privacy has been found to be one of the major concerns for ECommerce in many countries (CCID, 2001a CCID Consulting, Survey on B2B ECommerce in China. Beijing, CCID Consultant Corporation, 2001.). This could be related to Chinese culture where privacy is neither highly valued nor well respected. In the near future, policy and regulations regarding privacy are not likely to be developed and published. Privacy might be a potential issue for ECommerce in the long run as consumers bee more concerned about safeguarding their personal information. Intellectual property protectionProtection for both online and offline intellectual property rights has been a top priority for Chinese lawmakers in recent years. Intellectual property legislation is viewed as a vital base for the healthy development of the software industry and audiovideo industry, as well as ECommerce. State Council established China’s Directive for Computer Software Protection back in 1991. Relevant laws on copyright protection of online publications and audiovideo products have also been established by State Intellectual Ownership Bureau and State Custom Bureau.The major challenge is the poor enforcement, which is closely related to the general ine and culture of consumers. The relatively low ine of most individuals in China makes buying a software product impossible. Meanwhile, Chinese culture tends to value hardware products, and software products are often undervalued or no value. The bination of low ine with the lack of respect to software products makes illegal copying a popular practice. Any ECommerce activity for software products has to fight against this problem. CensorshipCensorship is one of the most sensitive and significant policy issues in China, related to ECommerce diffusion (Tan, Mueller amp。 Foster, 1997。 Tan amp。 Lu, 1998。 Tan, Foster amp。 Goodman, 1999). The government has been censoring all kinds of subject matter in its society, including news, publications, radio broadcasting, television programs, and movies. Subject matter is highly regulated by several relevant government agencies, including the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party, State Bureau of Broadcasting, Film and Television, State Bureau of News and Publications, and Ministry of Public Security.The emergence of the Internet and ECommerce has created a potential threat for the government to lose its censorship control. However, the Internet and ECommerce could not be renounced since they are considered the driving force of China39。s economic growth. Facing this dilemma, China is trying to extend its censorship model for the offline world to the online world. The underlying policy thinking is to open the Internet and ECommerce for economic benefits while monitoring and controlling content in order to minimize “negative” soc