Good web design takes into account the expected web layout for each particular market. Look for example at Sony's sites in different countries.
Sony Japan uses a lot of moving elements and catchy colours, things that probably would not be accepted in many other markets, where moving elements are considered distracting from the main message.
Sony USA is much more sober with no moving elements and hardly any superfluous information. It is somewhat similar to Apple's design, and, ironically, seems inspired by the peace and simplicity of a Japanese zen garden.
Sony France, Sony UK, Sony Greece and Sony Italy use the same basic layout. Sony Italy currently has one moving small element and Sony Greece a moving big central element, a promotion of the Cybershot DSC-T2 camera. The other two are completely immobile.
The European sites follow a classic layout with a menu to the left, some pictures in the middle and additional information in a column at the right of the page. The fact that the Greek and Italian sites have moving elements may be a temporary coincidence, but it may also be because moving elements are more accepted there than in Northern Europe.
Sony China has not only a major moving element, but the entire page is full of small pictures and text snippets to get as much information as possible into one page. This is entirely in line with many other Chinese web sites. Look for example at the Chinese news site Sina, where the entire page consists of hundreds of short links and some moving elements.
On one hand simple psychological experiments can show that the Chinese approach is "wrong". It is not pleasant and it is not an efficient way to get a message out or to navigate around a site.
On the other hand, this is what web sites are supposed to look like in China. Anything else would look foreign. It is as important to blend in and to look local as it is to show what the "correct" way of doing things is.
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