Chinese search engine Baidu dominates its homeland, but rivals are bearing down.

"I get it," the Western man says, speaking heavily accented Chinese. Surrounded by beautiful Chinese women in the video advertisement, he grins with self-satisfaction.

Nearby, a suave Chinese man dressed in scholar's robes laughs. "You don't necessarily get it," he says. As the ad unfolds, the Chinese scholar proceeds to humiliate the Westerner, mocking his poor Chinese-language skills. In the end, the women flock to the scholar's side, and the Westerner is left confused, alone and humiliated.

"Baidu understands Chinese better," the Baidu.com advertisement says, needling the company's former investor and current rival, Google. And statistics seem to bear that out: Baidu accounts for 62 percent of the country's search traffic, up from 52 percent in 2005, according to the China Internet Network Information Center in Beijing. For Western companies trying to establish a Web presence in China, understanding how Baidu plays the game could be key.

Full article: PC World