Yahoo launched a Web site on Monday dedicated to providing Internet searches for China–'Yisou' ("No. 1 search") differs from Yahoo's Chinese-language portal in that it will focus solely on Web searches.

Yahoo's announcement comes less than a week after Google made an investment in Baidu, buying a minority stake in what is currently China's largest search engine. Baidu was dropped by Yahoo on its Chinese-language website in March.

Yisou will be powered by the company's Yahoo Search Technology (YST) and will provide access to Yahoo e-mail, Yahoo messenger and Internet helper. Yahoo has said that it will be focusing on localizing YST in China, using technology from 3721 Network Software Co. (NSC), the technical arm of Chinese search engine 3721.com.