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Google was once again assailed in the East when a group of Chinese search engine companies announced they were upgrading their search technology.

This news comes on the heels of Yahoo.com announcing they are dropping Google in their Asia Pacific search portals.

The major players in this Chinese power struggle are Baidu.com, a Google clone, Zhongsou.com, a business-based search engine, and 3721.com, a Yahoo.com owned search firm.

3721.com's founder and CEO, Zhou Hongyi had this to say about the upcoming dash for cash, "My job in China is to kick Google's ass."

These companies are working hard to challenge Google in a search market that is now valued at $100 million, and is expected to double by 2006.

3721.com is currently integrating Yahoo's search technology into their own. Yahoo purchased 3721.com for $120 million in cash last November.

Baidu.com, which was once a Google takeover target, broke into the black last year, and boasts a searchable database of over 200 million sites. Robin Li, founder of Baidu, said that they expect that to grow to over 300 million this year.

Zhongsou.com, which claims the largest search index with 280 million pages, has a "strong domestic strategy," according to Safa Rashtchy, as reported in Reuters.

Google has its work cut out for it if it would like to dominate this market like it has in the western hemisphere. However, it seems that Google is up to task - it launched a Chinese language-based ad service in February.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.