Another Chinese New Year is upon us, and this year we transition into the Year of the Tiger. As Chinese businesses begin to shut down until the beginning of March 2010, we've stared at the eye of the tiger and risen to the challenge of figuring out the trends for this coming year.

It's the end of a great year at ChinaTechNews.com, and we have compiled a list of our own top ten online technology stories and topics for 2009. The year 2009 began with worries of how the financial crisis would impact Chinese businesses, but those worries soon disappeared as businesses realized China was on its own [...]

Coming days after word that NetEase.com was illegally running its World of Warcraft game, China's Ministry of Culture has issued a circular which exposes 188 computer games companies for illegal operations.

Proving that Internet business models in China can come and go at the whim of a Chinese government agency, a new government edict states NetEase.com has no authority to operate the World of Warcraft and the company should immediately stop charging users to play the game.

A law firm in the United States is going after Chinese online gaming firm The9 in a new class action lawsuit claiming that The9's executives made inaccurate statements about the company's financial situation.

Not operating the World of Warcraft online game in China has hit The9 with a CNY79.2 million net loss in the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Chinese online game company The9 Limited has entered into an agreement with Taiwan's Userjoy Technology Company Ltd. for an exclusive license to operate Kingdom Heroes 2 Online, a 3D massively multiplayer online role playing game, in mainland China.

According to a representative from the General Administration of Press and Publication of China, the content examination of World of Warcraft has been completed and GAPP now allows NetEase.com to start beta test of the game from July 30, 2009.

The bad news has not stopped for Chinese online gaming firm The9 Limited, as the company has now filed a Form 12b-25 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the late filing of its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2008.

Chinese online game operator NetEase.com has published a report stating that it feels sorry that the servers of World of Warcraft are unable to be opened on time, due to unexpected circumstances.

The Chinese "one-trick pony" online game operator The9 has confirmed that it will cut 300 employees who previously worked on the operation of World of Warcraft game.

CEO of NetEase.com William Ding and CEO of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Morhaime have jointly issued a public letter to the Chinese users of Blizzard Entertainment's online game World of Warcraft, saying that the game's new operator in Chinese mainland, NetEase.com, will open the first batch of its servers in late June 2009 and the remaining [...]

According to information from Shanghai's court website, Chinese online game operator The9 is targeting the American game developer Blizzard Entertainment in two lawsuits which involve property loss compensation and commercial defamation, respectively.

Chinese online game and portal operator NetEase.com has recently reported the latest transition situation of World of Warcraft and said that upon the completion of the transition, non-activated recharge cards of the game will be expired.

The rumors have proven true: Blizzard Entertainment Inc. is not renewing its online game contract in China with The9, choosing instead to move the World of Warcraft game to a subsidiary of Chinese Web portal NetEase.com.