Millions of ethnic people bedeviled by a dot in names

Inconsistent use of punctuation mark makes shopping online, especially via cellphones, difficult

Inconsistencies in the way a punctuation mark is used in official documents is increasingly hampering the efforts of some members of China's ethnic groups as they struggle to engage with e-commerce and mobile banking systems.

The problem stems from a form of punctuation known as the middle dot, which is used to separate the Mandarin surnames and given names of the Uygur, Kazak and Tibetan peoples, among others.