Blogging software provider Six Apart has partnered with Chinese weblog company Bokee to localize and distribute Movable Type, Six Apart's web publishing platform, to Chinese businesses and educational institutions, beginning in the second quarter this year.

"There are an estimated 15 million blogs in China, most of them written by individuals," said Anil Dash, Six Apart's vice president of professional products. "We believe business blogging in China will also grow, becoming as enthusiastically embraced in China as it is in Japan, where Movable Type is the de facto standard for business blogging. Movable Type's support for Chinese language blogging now gives Chinese businesses a first-rate choice for installable blogging tools."

With Movable Type's user-friendly interface, users do not have to rely on web designers or IT professionals to create weblogs. Instead, they can easily design and maintain weblogs that are richly featured, scalable and customizable, enabling vibrant communication with those who are central to their businesses.

"Six Apart has the best blogging products in the world and I believe Movable Type can bring great value to our customers," said Fang Xingdong, chairman and CEO of Bokee. "Six Apart is the one of our most important partners in helping us reach our ultimate business goal of enabling blogging for all kinds of customers in China."

Adding this Movable Type service to Bokee's stable of services will allow it to better compete with other Chinese blogging platforms like Blogcn.com and ChinaBlog.net.

The two privately-held companies did not provide financial terms for the deal.