HANGZHOU -- In spite of the gloom hanging over the global economy, some large-scale private enterprises in China's eastern coastal regions are optimistically expanding, in stark contrast to their downsized western counterparts.

Alibaba Group, the world's largest business-to-business (B2B) corporation in terms of turnover, has launched a new recruitment scheme in February. The Hangzhou-based group plans to take on 5,000 new members in 2009, raising the total number of employees by 45 percent.

These newcomers, to be engaged in sales, research and customer service, will be working with the group's subsidiaries such as Alibaba.com, a B2B e-commerce company and Taobao.com, the most popular online shopping website in China.

Suggestive of the upbeat prediction from Jack Ma, this expansion program is widely deemed a preparatory step for the recovery to come. Two months ago, Jack Ma, the founder and Chairman of Alibaba Group, forecast an upturn in the country's macroeconomy.

"The turning point offers us the best opportunity for recruitment. The early bird catches the worm," said Wu Hang, director of Human Resources of Alibaba Group, adding that the program is made to meet the group's demand for talent.

"Online marketplace in China remains unaffected by the global recession," said David Wei, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba.com Limited.

David's confidence is enhanced by statistics. According to a report published by iResarch Consulting Group, the number of registered online shoppers in China, 120 million by the end of 2008, has hit a record high with an upsurge of 185 percent. Annual online transactions have reported 120 billion yuan, a growth of 128.5 percent compared with lower than 95 percent for 2007. Also, China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) has announced that China has overtaken the United States as the world's largest Internet market with 298 million netizens by the end of 2008.

To expand market share in such a rapidly developing Internet market, Alibaba will carry out a series of plans in the next five years, including further investment in Taobao.com. "We will be invested in with 5 billion (731 million US dollars) yuan," said Lu Weixing, spokesman of Taobao.com, on Friday.

Alibaba is not alone. Hangzhou Wahaha Group Corp., the biggest beverage maker in China and the fifth largest across the world, intends to employ 5,000 more workers after recruiting 2,000 recently.

"New positions result from the 90 new assembly lines that will be put into operation soon," explained Zong Qinghou, Wahaha's Chairman and Managing Director, "We welcome graduates majored in machinery automation, biotechnology, logistics, microbiology, business administration or macromolecular chemistry."

Zong also said on February 15 that he is considering marketing products internationally through overseas distributors. In 2008, the group obtained an income of over 10 million US dollars in markets outside China.

The booming rural market is likely to shore up Wahaha's expansion plan. Thanks in large part to consumers in China's rural areas, Wahaha, whose main products are downscale, achieved an increase of 27.19 percent (from 25.81 billion yuan to 32.83 billion yuan) in annual sales and an increase of 50.36 percent (from 3.36 billion yuan to 5.05 billion yuan) in profit in 2008. Now the group occupies 60 percent of the rural consumption market share.

NASDAQ-listed NetEase, one of China's largest web portals, launches a pig-raising project that has caused wide concern. Ding Lei, Chief Executive Officer of NetEase, and a famous exponent of China's new rich, decides to set up the company's pig farm in Huzhou, a city near Shanghai.

Before mapping out the plan, Ding made a study of agriculture and livestock breeding in areas including Zhejiang, Guangdong, Yunnan, Shandong, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. He even traveled to Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia to learn more about modern farming.

Meanwhile, NetEase plans to develop a website somewhat like Facebook for farmers, on which pork purveyors can exchange breeding tips. The website is also accessible to consumers who can keep an eye on details about the pigs.

"I aim to draw greater attention to agriculture and involve the public into resolving food safety problem", Ding emphasized. But the pig-raising plan is regarded as a mirror of NetEase's ambition in exploring the rural market.

"The vast countryside will prove to be a new growth engine to the IT giant," said Gu Yikang, an agricultural expert in Zhejiang.