Chinese, is already the third largest slice of the blogosphere language pie (8%), as reported by Technorati's most recent State of the Blogosphere report. Japanese #1 (37%) and English #2 (36%) are by far the largest languages of the live web.

Acknowledging the growth potential in China Intel Capital announced; and as covered by InformationWeek, that it's investing in 51.com, China's largest social network. The network already has 60 million users, and is adding five million users a month (a month!).

While this story received light press coverage, I would hazard a guess that we will be hearing a lot more about 51.com in coming years. In fact, Reuters wrote yesterday that 51.com is already looking at a possible IPO in three years and is targeting a NASDAQ listing.

With roughly 20% of the world's population speaking some form of Chinese; as more people in China network online, the conversation, regardless of the topic, is only going to grow.

Did anyone see where I put my Rosetta Stone Mandarin CDs?