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This is a series of articles published by Kai Fu Lee. I did the translation after graduation from university in summer to learn more about the technology trend and practise my translation skill.

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Translation of Kaifu Lee’s post on LinkedIn - The Chinese User is More Like you Than you Think

李开复LinkedIn文章翻译之一 – 中国用户比你想象中的更像你

To an American, China feels very distant, very different, and very difficult. You hear bizarre tales, and see American companies fail in China, so you assume Chinese Internet users must be very different from you.

对美国人来说，中国感觉上是一个非常遥远，非常不同，还非常艰难的地方。你听过各种荒诞的传说，看到了美国公司在中国陨落，所以你假定中国的网民肯定也和你很不一样。

But actually, the Chinese Internet user is a lot like you – He browses, searches, and plays. She uses SNS, IM, and mobile apps. They all love smart phones, Angry Birds, and iPads.

但实际上，中国的网民和你们非常相像。某个他在浏览，搜索，也玩游戏。某个她用社交网络，即时聊天软件，也用手机应用。他们都热爱智能手机，愤怒的小鸟和iPad。

But there are also significant differences between Chinese and American Internet users. Can you guess the single biggest difference?

但是中美网民之间也有一些很重要的不同之处。你能猜出来最大的区别是什么吗？

Culture? Expressiveness? Mobility? Government regulations? No, the single largest difference is age! The average Chinese internet user is almost young enough to be the average American users son/daughter!

文化？表现力？移动性？政府限制？这些都不是，最大的区别在于年龄！中国网民的平均年龄都快够当美国网民的子女了！

That is why Chinese users tend to use less email and more IM, less e-commerce and more games, less search and more blogging. See the chart below for a more detailed breakdown.

这就是为什么中国用户用电子邮件少用即时聊天软件多，用电子商务少玩游戏多，用搜索少用博客多的原因。以下图表有更细致的分析。

The study above was done before mobile and SNS really took off in China. I’ll tell you more about these trends in the coming weeks.

以上研究是在中国的移动（互联网）和社交网络真正发力之前完成的。在接下来的几周里我会和你分享更多这些趋势。