Facebook has reportedly offered £41 million to buy Chinese social networking site Zhanzuo.com.
The move would give Facebook a ready-made entry into the largest internet market outside the US, and would mark the first time it has employed acquisition as a growth strategy.
Facebook already reports more than 100,000 users of its English-language network in China and recently signalled its intent to launch a local-language version by registering the domain facebook.cn.
However, the company has denied that it has made an offer for the Chinese site.
Facebook has also been linked to Tianwang, a Chinese search engine, and Xiaonei.com, a Chinese social network.
Xianonei claims to have eight million active users in almost 8,000 colleges and universities in China, and also has a similar appearance to Facebook.
It was acquired last year by Chinese new media conglomerate, Oak Pacific Interactive, which is reported to have registered a Chinese internet address called Facebook.com.cn.
It is estimated that China has some 162 million internet users, and according to a recent poll, the average Chinese user spends between 14 and 19 hours a week online, compared with between seven and 10 hours in the US.
Recently Microsoft agreed to invest $240 million (£117 million) in Facebook, placing a $15 billion value on it (see Microsoft Invests In Facebook).