Why Do Leading Chinese Internet Companies Struggle with Poor Technical Practices?

This article compiles a Zhihu discussion about why some large Chinese internet companies exhibit weak technical and management practices.

The original poster, an intern, observed daily email checks, poorly designed systems, copy‑paste code without comments or formatting, multiple versions of HTTP clients, missing request IDs, inconsistent logging, and configuration files stored in the repository.

Senior engineers responded by explaining that many of these issues stem from legacy decisions, rapid growth, and the need to support legacy business that once generated the majority of revenue. They argue that custom tools, such as an internal source‑code management system (TITAN), replace standard tools like SVN, and that the company’s “efficiency improvement team” mitigates many problems.

They also justify the use of MySQL over PostgreSQL for simple audit reports, the presence of large monolithic classes, and the occasional use of ad‑hoc asynchronous designs, claiming these choices balance development speed, cost, and the company’s massive scale.

Both respondents emphasize that technical debt must be weighed against business value, that resources are limited, and that the company prioritizes delivering features over adhering strictly to textbook best practices.

Overall, the discussion highlights the tension between ideal software engineering standards and practical constraints in large, fast‑growing enterprises.