As eBay becomes the second American Internet giant to hand over its Chinese operation to a local partner, following a similar move by Yahoo!, China looks more and more like a curse for US companies than a creative expansion into the world's largest potential market.

The soaring success of American Internet icons in other international markets has simply not translated to China, and once-invincible firms find themselves in the unfamiliar role of reeling from battles with local rivals.

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Their troubles, say industry experts, can be traced to poor understanding of Chinese users' habits, slow progress in using local managers and a US-centric business model.

Xie Wen, former CEO of Yahoo! China, agreed that common failures of US Internet giants in China include a lack of understanding of Chinese users' habits and slow progress in tailoring overall operations to fit the culture.

"Apparently, eBay and other US Internet companies did not do enough to localize their companies' culture, management teams and operations," he said. "If they don't change themselves in China, they will never win in this large market."

Qu Xiaodong, general manager of CCW research, a domestic consulting firm, said it was a failure of catering to the majority of Chinese Internet users that led to the underperformance of most US Internet companies in the country.

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