Many times it's easy to spot the Chinese product. China Mobile, for instance. Or anything featuring Jackie Chan in its advertising gimmicks. But some Chinese-owned products or brands can make you do a double take. Whether they've bought into foreign-based companies or it's an original of their own, below are some of the more head- scratching things to which the Chinese can lay claim. And suddenly it becomes clear just how far-reaching this country really is...

 

Lenovo
If you've bought a laptop or cell phone while in China, chances are you've run across Lenovo. It's a Beijing-based computer technology company specializing in desktops, laptops, and as of 2009, cell phones. According to their website, Lenovo is now the third largest mobile market in the country and the world's fourth largest seller of personal computers (www.lenovo.com). These are also the guys behind the popular ThinkPad laptops, which they bought from IBM in 2005. Surprisingly enough for a Chinese-based company, Lenovo was named by Greenpeace's "Guide to Greener Electronics" as one of the leading environmentally friendly computer companies, ranking 17th this year. Could this mean China's going green?

The Cleveland Cavaliers
Oh, how the Chinese love their basketball. That helps explain why, last year, NBA team The Cleveland Cavaliers sold a 15% stake of their franchise and arena to a group of Chinese investors headed by Kenny Huang. Of course the deal was, at the time, seen as a way to entice LeBron James to stay with the Cavaliers (and we all know how that turned out). But even without the team's star player, the Cavaliers' presence in China will certainly grow. And while The New York Times calls it "the first significant investment in a major American sports franchise by investors from China," it certainly won't be the last. Everyone from the MLB to the NFL is realizing the potential fan base they have here in China (Shaquille O'Neal even has a contract with Li Ning shoes), it's only a matter of time before other teams and franchises follow suit.

NetEase
NetEase, founded in 1997 by William Ding (who is now consistently ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in China), is an internet company whose web portal hosts various search engines and "massively multiplayer online gaming" (www.httpuseragent.org). You may have heard of the popular "Fantasy Westward Journey," a MMORPG that helped boost NetEase's market value to around 761.6 million USD (www.quotes.nasdaq.com). In April of this year, Alexa's Internet Rankings found NetEase to be the "28th most visited site on the planet." In case you're curious, that's higher than AOL, CNN, or BBC. There must be a lot of gamers out there...

UnionPay
If you have a bank account in China, you've seen UnionPay. It's the country's only domestic credit card organization and it's everywhere. Founded in 2002, some of China's biggest banks were its first members, such as Bank of China and China Construction Bank (http://www.pbc.gov.cn/english/). Nowadays, it works hand-in-hand with some of the world's biggest international credit card companies, such as Mastercard, VISA, and American Express. According to Xinhua News Agency, this means that your UnionPay card can be used in over twenty countries, including the United States, Australia, Germany, and Japan. Good to know the card travels well...

Chateau Richelieu
"China" and "wine" may not seem an obvious match, but a Hong Kong firm's recent purchase of the French winery Chateau Richelieu may change all that. Apparently Chinese investors have been taking advantage of that whole recession thing to buy rare bottles of wine - and, it seems, wineries. According to the wine blog "Decanter," the previous co-owners will still work at the winery, with the Hong Kong firm taking over sales and distribution within China. So how much money did they drop on this winery? Estimates are coming in at around 3 million Euros, which may seem like a ridiculous amount of money until one considers the growing Chinese wine market. Just last year, total wine consumption increased 15% in China, while Bordeaux wine sales in particular increased 36%. All that ganbei-ing must be paying off! 

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