Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Late 90s Beijing . Those were the days . Forgive the wistful opening but it 's true . The saccharine pop hit `` Xin Tai Ruan '' may have played endlessly on the radio and the `` Titanic '' screensaver displayed on virtually every cubicle PC , but I forgive the kitsch of that era . It was a time before China became a top destination for resume-wielding MBAs . And it was a time of intellectual exchange between curious locals and sinophile expats , each drawn by a strong mutual interest in culture , music , and emerging technology . In circa 1997 Beijing , there was no relentless gridlock or constant smartphone use to prevent free and open exploration in the real world . And there were only 620,000 Internet users across the entire country . This was the dawn of dot-coms in China . Cigarettes and instant noodles . When I could n't land my dream job as a full-time reporter in Beijing , I took up a post with a fledgling Chinese Internet firm I had covered as a freelancer . That start-up would later grow into Sohu , one of China 's leading Internet companies . Its original one-room office in the Bright China Chang An Building was spartan to say the least . Forget the gourmet canteens of Baidu today . Seventeen years ago , the dotcom diet in Beijing was MSG-laced instant noodles and cigarettes at your desk . I was the only Western woman in the company and one of a few thousand Western expats in the city . If you were an expat in pre-World Trade Organization China , you were probably there because of a genuine interest in the country and its culture . We were n't there to exploit the economic opportunity of a so-called rising China . We were just there for an adventure . Dotcom game . In 1999 , I met fellow American expat Porter Erisman for dinner while he was leading the Internet marketing group at Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing . He was curious about jumping into the China dotcom game and wanted to know more about what it was like . I recently caught up with Porter to reminisce about that time and learn more about why he decided to take that risk and join a Chinese Internet start-up . `` I had a number of clients who had different Internet start-ups and they all looked like they were having such a great time , so I wanted to join in and be part of it , '' he tells me . `` I met with different managers of different companies , and the one I finally felt comfortable with was Alibaba just because they had a very international mindset . '' Porter joined Alibaba.com in April 2000 and for the next eight years worked as a vice president in charge of the company 's international website operations , marketing and corporate affairs . He witnessed Alibaba 's rise from a tiny start-up running out of a small apartment to a global Internet giant . And even though he left his post there a few years back , Porter is thrilled for the company as it goes to market with its blockbuster IPO . `` For me , there 's some satisfaction in seeing that the company I played a role in building in the early days has grown to become possibly the world 's largest e-commerce company , '' he says . Porter left Alibaba to become a consultant and filmmaker . In his documentary film , `` Crocodile in the Yangtze , '' he tells the story of Alibaba 's struggle in its early years and eventual triumph over eBay in China . Far from over . I too left my Chinese dotcom to become a storyteller of sorts . Over the years , I 've shared my experiences in China 's nascent IT industry and ventured into journalism . Seventeen years ago in Beijing , there were riveting debates in tea houses and over hot pot dinners . It 's since been forced into the open in a very big way thanks to the rise of social media and mobile messaging now reaching more than 600 million Chinese . As a journalist , the tension and the opportunity of China 's now mammoth dotcoms has been a thrill to both witness and report . And the story is far from over .
CNN 's journalist Lu Stout worked for Sohu , a Chinese tech start - up , in the 1990s . Sohu and peers like Alibaba are now some of the world 's biggest tech companies . Back then , offices were spartan and everything was instant noodles , not gourmet canteens . The rise of China 's mammoth dotcoms has been a phenomenon to both watch and report .