[Lance]

Right now the consensus around this law is:

China has implemented "anti-gold farming" laws before. (internet cafe @day/farming studio @night establishments were closed, excessive farming restricted by playtime barriers etc.) These were strictly meant for the Chinese domestic market. (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_g...ublic_of_China)

While this new law appears directly targetted towards virtual currency sales, there's a few notes to consider:

The original press release by the Chinese government (http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticl...606364208.html) only mentions the trade of Virtual -> Tangible goods. Trading Tangible goods -> Virtual is not mentioned anywhere, yet by now, reworded and rewritten articles in Western press vehemently claim that to be the case.

Why a difference between Virtual -> Real <=> Real -> Virtual?

If you notice the context of the Chinese press release... the emphasis lies on economic consequences brought by virtual tenders, in particular China's largest virtual currency: QQ Coin. ("QQ" is China's de facto instant messaging client (name ripped from ICQ) with various paid services offered to enhance the experience through purchasing "QQ Coins")

The usage of QQ Coins in China has become so widespread that people were using them as legal alternative when buying everyday utilities, clothes, electronics items and so on.

Now that's when virtual currencies pose risks to a national economy, hence the ban of virtual -> tangible exchanges.

Buying virtual goods with real money is left untouched, since that is ultimately an everyday business model without posing harm to the nation's own money revenue.