Last month, private equity investors witnessed the surprisingly successful initial stock offering by Baidu, known as China's Google, and Yahoo's $1 billion investment in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. This site continues to chronicle the high-profile international deals, that are sending more venture capitalists hurtling through time zones from Silicon Valley to various science parks in China, like modern Marco Polos.

So the recent release of Investing in China: the Emerging Venture Capital Industry in China by Jonsson Yinya Li, could not be more auspicious, since it trumpets the arrival of China's venture capital industry.

For sure, there are many private equity investors who remain skeptical about the full emergence of a venture capital system in the state-planned economy. But Li's new guide does provide ample documentation of more China-focused funds coming of age in China's fast march to the financial markets.

According to Internet News, there are signs that research and investment banking may finally have become disjoined. Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray, two underwriters of Baidu's August IPO, initiated coverage of the company with now "underperform" ratings. The firms said their
ratings were a reflection of Baidu's "off the chart" valuation rather than any fundamental problem with the Chinese Internet search leader's business.

Even The Deal's blog Tech Confidential, echoed this bad news for Baidu.