In November 1998, SRSNet (Stone Rich Sight Information Technology Ltd), the most visited internet portal site in China, established by and Wang Yan in 1996, merged with Sinanet, an web site for American Chinese community, created in California by Hurst Lin, , and Jack Hong in 1995. The merging of the two largest Chinese websites formed into the later Sina. Since then the service had been extended across the straits and North America, before it extended to Hong Kong in July 1999.