Hoping to compete with China.com's (CHINA) recent forays into consumers with more buying power, MSN (MSFT) has launched five new channels on its Chinese website in its bid to create a lifestyle portal for white collar Chinese.

The five channels that MSN has added to its Chinese website are Reading, Matchmaking, Statistics, Community and Cars.

Since it launched its Chinese website in May 2005, MSN has been expanding the content on the website in cooperation with local Internet content providers. It has entered partnerships with nine content providers in China, but according to Luo Chuan, a supervisor from MSN China, the number of content providers in China will be increased to 20 in the coming year.

China.com's General Manager Chen Xiaowei has also been working on getting her web portal aimed at China's affluent white and gold collar consumers. China.com is expanding its English-language portal to provide a wider array of services to Chinese venturing overseas or working in foreign-invested businesses and its Chinese-language portal is also expanding into new video media.

Currently, MSN is providing services in 21 languages in 42 countries of the world, but China has been regarded as the most important market in Microsoft's Internet strategy.