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Dotcoms in China have long been known for shamelessly stealing the business models- and sometimes the visual appearance -of popular American websites and simply recreating them in Chinese (known as the 'copy to China' model). This approach has spawned copies of Facebook, YouTube, eBay and other well-known sites. But many Chinese sites do more than just copy, tweaking existing models to adapt them to local customs or values.
Consider Qifang, for example, a website that provides student loans by connecting borrowers and lenders. Such 'peer to peer' (P2P) lending was pioneered in other markets, notably Britain and America, though its growth has been hampered by higher-than-expected default...