Edwyn Chan: The Nick Denton of China?

Tipped by Fons at China Herald, we found this interview with the founder of what Fons calls "China's Gawker." Edwyn Chan runs BlogKu Media, a network of five blogs in China. They are: DianZiRen (gadgets and electronics), Shuanga ("funny stuff"), Starpapa (celebrity gossip), Jiaexp (gaming) and Movblog (film). Another blog, Postshow -- which Chan says is "Boing Boing-like" -- is "affiliated" with BlogKu.

Chan is from Hong Kong, attended New York University and is now an MBA candidate at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He launched BlogKu after deciding that trying to compete in the crowded Chinese blogging platform industry would be an "uphill battle that I could not win. Hence, I figured out a blog media network of niche topic blogs which were branded (like Gawker Media) was a much better business opportunity as no one was doing this yet."

Here are some excerpts of Part I of China Web2.0 Review's interview with Chan:

Why you will start business in China Mainland instead of in Hong Kong?

There is no internet market or culture in hong kong. Actually there is no tech market period. Hong Kong is all about entertainment and finance now.

...

What’s the biggest difficulty during the development of Blogku Media?

Blog media is still an uphill battle. Culture I think is the biggest difficulty. It’s hard to find writers as no one really understands blog media.

...

Which blog is most popular in your network?

Shuanga.com is most popular because the content is most mass market. I have had a lot of critisim from people saying Shuanga.com content is too crude or “low level”. However, I insist on shuanga.com to be that crude. This is because I believe that blog media is all about longtail theory and that there is niche markets. Most people that critizes Shuanga.com’s content are bloggers or web 2.0 users and maybe to them shuanga.com’s content is not classy enough. However, I think for blog media to accepted to the masses, blog content should also appeal to the masses.

FYI: Nick Denton is the founder of Gawker Media.