According to a study by JWT and as reported by The Economist, 80% of young Chinese people believe that digital technology is an essential part their life. Compared with 68% of Americans. Twice as many Chinese as Americans (25% to 12%) said they would not feel okay going without internet access for more than a day. 82% of young Chinese agreed that “interactivity helps create intimacy, even at a distance,” compared with 36% of Americans.

Just 30% of Americans said that the internet helps their social life; 77% of the Chinese respondents agreed that “the internet helps me make friends.” And not just friends: 32% of the Chinese said that the internet broadens their sex life, compared with 11% of Americans. According to JWT’s chief trendspotter, Marian Salzman, “our study confirms that the Chinese internet is buzzing with virtual pheromones—‘cybermones,’ if you will.”

Mr Diller has another term for a unit of emotion flying about in cyberspace: the emobyte. In general, he regards America’s emobyte deficit as a problem: yet another sign that the balance of power is shifting to China. “More activity online means a more connected and a more evolved workforce—just what China needs as it makes its move from being the workshop of the world to a developed economy in its own right,” he says.

Stefan, do you have an office space available for me in Fullsix Shanghai?

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