Yahoo Shuts Down China Email, Withdrawal LoomsYahoo! announced that it will stop its Yahoo! Mail service in China on August 19th this year, implying that the company may soon fully withdraw from the Chinese market. This move by Yahoo! is not very surprising, as the newly appointed CEO has made some major adjustments, one of which involves Yahoo! exiting secondary markets to focus on core operations in the U.S.Yahoo! is neither the first internet giant to leave China nor will it be the last. In recent years, Google has shut down most of its internet services in China, dramatically exiting the Chinese search market in 2010 and closing its music and online shopping search businesses in China in 2012.The recruitment website Monster Worldwide also sold its China business earlier this year to focus on core operations in the U.S. Yahoo!'s choice to slowly exit the market is somewhat different and a bit strange.In 2005, after Yahoo! invested $1 billion to acquire a 40% stake in Alibaba, Yahoo!'s email service in China was operated by Alibaba, and its search service in China was handed over to Alibaba. However, Alibaba failed to reverse the declining trend of these businesses, and Chinese media reported that Alibaba is preparing to return the entire Yahoo! China operation to Yahoo!.After Marissa Mayer was appointed CEO of Yahoo! last year, Yahoo! announced the closure of its music service in China, making strategic adjustments. I have always predicted that Yahoo! would exit China. Earlier this year, Yahoo! sold part of its stake in Alibaba, signaling the beginning of the separation of the two companies.A report said that Alibaba will try to transfer Yahoo! China's email users to its AliCloud email service. I haven't heard that Alibaba is preparing to formally return the entire Yahoo! China operation to Yahoo!, but such a move by Alibaba would be expected.When will Yahoo! officially announce its exit from China after shutting down its email service in China? I speculate it might be in one or two months, and Yahoo! may also exit other large markets. That will be the end of Yahoo!'s 10-year story in China. However, Yahoo! is neither the first company to stumble in China nor will it be the last. China is both the world's largest internet market and the hardest to navigate.