The city of Tianjin, a 30-minute ride away by high speed train from the Chinese capital, is often known as a down-to-earth city where its locals discredit attempts to “look official”. Yet the Jin Wanbao (今晚报), the evening newspaper of the city, seems to take on a more officialesque tone — when it comes to things in cyberspace.

Page 5 of the June 10, 2010 edition convinces readers with a huge headline that the real-name, real-ID system for online shops, slated to be in effect as of July 1, 2010, is a “must”, despite acknowledging that the measures have created a fair bit of controversy. Three big issues were singled out: Do e-shopkeepers have to pay tax? How safer will online shopping get? And are there any “discounts” for taxes in a “new industry”?

There is an increasing number of university students who basically make a living by selling online. In cyberspace, setting up shop requires far less red tape and even less hassle when it comes to securing a storefront, explaining why e-commerce is big. Trouble is, there’s a lot of uncertainty on whether or not taxes will start kicking into effect with the new regulations. Any cent collected will mean more expenses on the side of the e-shopkeeper, making a storefront in cyberspace less attractive (even if by a cent).

Although it’s sure that cases of customers being cheated on are expected to fall with the new rules in force, there’s still another bit of uncertain head-scratching — and that’s when it comes to, once again, taxation. It’s hoped that these e-shops will get taxed less or stay untaxed altogether, given their meteoritic rise as of late, plus the fact that e-shops are still very new to China.

Chinese cyberspace seems to be less and less of the uncensored wilderness that the Interwebs started out with. Still, if you think of the Web as being a digital extension to your real lives, that’s when the linkage with your real ID might start making sense…