When I was writing my July 31 post on China becoming the world's largest online community, I thought about India. In fact, the 4 percent penetration rate of the Internet does sound low for a country known for IT outsourcing, and, more recently, design and engineering.

I didn't include a comparison of the two countries in my posting, mainly because I wanted to keep the piece short and sweet.

But Business Week writer Frederik Balfour did in the "Eyes on Asia" blog, highlighting a pair of data sets: China's 19 percent Internet penetration vs. India's 4 percent, and China's 85 percent broadband percentage vs. India's 4 percent.

He received some harsh and outspoken comments, which criticized the writer's lack of understanding of the matter and framing up or exaggerating the China-India rivalry.

BW does like the China vs. India theme. It certainly grabs attention and invites bickering. A case in point was a July 22 BW article, "Why India will beat China". The story stirred up more than 500 comments -- some are intense and angry -- in a week.

If I can weigh in a little, China and India are on the top of the target list of Western companies' investment locations. So it makes perfect sense to compare the pros and cons.

But it can get writers into hot water to judge developing countries with their own set of values and underlying assumptions and then hope everyone else agrees. What is or is not desirable? Which goals are and are not priorities? These are all subjective value judgments.

And, local knowledge--understanding how a particular social system works--is vital. For instance, Balfour was surprised by how firewall -- used by the government to block Web sites, Web pages and even certain key word search that the government deems inappropriate -- doesn't discourage the growth of Chinese Internet users. I can help solve his puzzle: First, most Chinese people use the Internet for reasons other than political; second, the Internet has enabled Chinese people to talk more openly than ever and helped form an emerging public sphere in the cyberspace. Online firewalls can be frustrating, but not as almighty as in the off-line world. In other words, people who are used to tight government control in the day-to-day life aren't deterred by the presence of online police from using the Internet. It's that simple.