British Ambassador Christopher Hum and British Consul-General in Shanghai, Sue Bishop visited Alibaba’s Hangzhou headquarters on Oct. 20, 2004.

During the tour, Alibaba CEO, Jack Ma introduced the Ambassador to the current workings of Alibaba’s 3 websites: Alibaba Chinese site, the International site and Taobao, Alibaba’s C2C site, as well as Alibaba’s future strategic entry into overseas markets, with Britain being one of the main windows to the European market. Jack Ma also discussed ways Alibaba.com could assist British companies in exporting, as well as provide value-added services to its British members.