Sina, China’s biggest web portal, just released its own check-in service, namedWeiLingDi, which roughly translates to “Micro Territory.” It hopes to attract users with seamless integration to its microblogging service and by using celebrity endorsement with its “Star News” feature.

LikeFoursquare, users can check-in at different places and get badges. It also doubles as a discovery service by letting users rate and recommend places to go to. As expected, WeiLingDi integrates seamlessly withSina Weibo, the biggest microblogging service in the country. “Users can log in using their Weibo account and their check-ins and recommendations will be shared with their followers.

Withmore than60,000 verified accounts that consist of celebrities, sports stars and other VIPs, WeiLingDi encourages new users to use the service with “Star News”, where users can follow celebrities to discover their whereabouts and activities. It’s a big hit with the Chinese as the the top 100 users themselves have over 180 million followers.

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Foursquare, as with most social networking sites, is currently behind theGreat Firewallof China. Rumor has it that it is interested inacquiringJiepang, China’s most popular location-based service, but given the huge established user base of Sina, it will surely be a stiff competition between these two. Clients foriOSandAndroidare already available for download.

Story byFrancis Tan

Francis Tan is the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social me(show all)Francis Tanis the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social media and e-commerce. Get in touch with him via Twitter@francistanor Emailfrancis@thenextweb.com.

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