

Google and China

Flowers for a funeral

Censorship and hacker attacks provide the epitaph for Google in China

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@ imcampos wrote: Jan 14th 2010 2:55 GMT

“Three big mining companies, Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are reported to be as fed up with China as Google. Could this be a trend?”

What has this got to do with Google case?

The iron ore spot market price has shot up to $134 a ton last week, as compared to the contract price of $61 per ton in 2009.

“It’s the economy, stupid.”

Damon Douglas

My hope is that this lack informational access will produce that inevitable demise of a tyrannical regime. May the people of China one day experience the joy of justice, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.




Economist says: “Flowers for a funeral” ?

They broke the law in China and both were trying to throw their respective weight around and bully their respective way out citing reasons.

High profile reason like “censorship” is of course no low profile “mental illness” one; and Google is of course no Briton Akmal Shaikh, but imputation insinuating Chinese government is always the same, hook, line, and sinker.


I hope Google has the courage to punt - threatening it and doing it are two different things. Chinese authorities are scared of their own people, just witness the Western part of the country. They will never innovate as long as they are tyrants to their own people.

Werner Raab

Google is responsible for its own fate. First, google's search engine seems not compatible with Chinese characters,comparing with Baidu,using google is really a disaster for Chinese users.(I am apolitical) Second,of course,google provide a lot of pornographic links,which is unbearable for either Chinese government or Chinese parents. Google is undeniably a great company,but if I were an every-day user in China,I wouldn't care whether you filter the views or news regarding to politics. Search engine was design to serve us, not as a new cold-war battleground.


I think it is fairly clear that Google does not plan to abandon the Chinese market. What is clear is that Google intends to go around the Chinese government to get to the Chinese market rather than through the Chinese government (i.e., VPN). What is unclear is whether Google can remain one technological step ahead of the Chinese government if and when the VPN strategy is countered, thereby allowing it to continue to bypass the Chinese government and reach the Chinese market. Google is betting that it will.


No matter how Google might want you to think, with some common sense its not hard to see all this talk about censorship hardly have much to do with recent events. Google had 5 years to think about its stance on censorship, they obviously had no problem 5 years ago, instead of talking about their "ethics" they spent the past 5 years trying in vain to expand their market share. Only after a particular bad year: the departure of their China director and brand damage from book scanning lawsuits did they suddenly rediscover their stance on censorship. Come on, give me a break.

As for cyber attacks, they were targeted at US based Google server for gathering and storing personal information for American police warrants, with attacks coming from an internal Chinese affiliate link (hence the Chinese government claim). And its not Chinese profiles the hackers were trying to access, since Chinese government could legally request them from Google, it was American profiles. Also, considering the unusual move to inform Hilary Clinton and the State Department of the security breach and the supposed "human rights activist" victims its highly likely those compromise persons has connections, at least to the State Department.

Google should not be a new comer to being targeted by cyber attacks, their massive over reaction, the State Department's involvement and the logically unconnected response of pulling servers out of China seem to suggest it goes far beyond Google's stance on censorship and very likely to do with intelligence operations between the two governments, with Google, unfortunately caught in the middle.


Please switch off the light and shut the door behind you when you have finally decided to leave.

Slave CN

As a Chinese, I put a big expectation on these free Website. Don't disappoint us, many upholders unlike the shit government. We need a true and free life. Despotism will be doomed to be beaten.


China is on the way to another cultural revolution in the Internet era, and we may even about to see a digital iron curtain to fall over the nation. (by Menphis from China)


1. We should applaud Google. Even if their revenue numbers are relatively small in China it is good to see that the company can not longer live in an environment that takes out its soul and arguable that of the internet itself.
2. Expect more of a clash of the civilizations in business affairs with China. Globalization during the last 10 years has been beneficial for Western corporations, its shareholders and everybody in China. However many employees in the west feel left out. The latter are also major consumers. The more stronger and richer China, a society alien to the West, South America and India, becomes the more opposition against them will come that will translate in different consumer behavior and political actions that will not be mutually beneficial.


The situation happened not only because of 1 or 2 simple issue,like mailbox and consorship, but of more wider areas with unsatisfaction so far for google in China. I am seeing it is a game between 2 sides,and I hope a win-win result come out finally.


What I want to say is I need google. That the government wholly blocks the google, must irritate the intellectual of china, for they have been used to the google. If google retreats, what will left over for us is the disgusting search engine Baidu.

Sam Gardner

Might this prove one of the trademark errors of judgment of The Economist (cfr climate change, Iraq,..)in one of the major issues of our time? Constructive engagement has often been an excuse for business as usual and collaboration.
The value proposal of Google is their objective search, unbiased by human interference. This is what makes them trusted, and censorship is against this core value of Google, forcing them to deliver a second rate product. It is like Philippe Patek offering a Swatch under their brand name.


As a college student in China, i can understand Google's decision, but i dare not envision the life without Google. Many of my friends use GMail, Google Earth and GPhone service. And it is undoubtedly a better search engine to find foreign new information than Baidu, which is mainly targeted on entertainment and comparatively low-level Chinese information. Internet seemed castrated without Google.

However, China is a huge, densely-populated country. Stabilization comes first, and it has its reason. In such a country with so many emotional, ill-educated civilians dissatisfied about the social inequities, a little provocation(like the spread of a piece of news) may change into an uncontrollable unrest, like the massacre in Xinjiang. Who should be responsible for that? Admittedly, the government is the first to blame, but what about the crazy killers in the riot? Should they kill so many innocent people cruelly just because your selfish anger on the government? They are totally insane! And what they heard should and must be censored.

Information transpanrancy should be controlled only for those rational and educated people in China. However, this is just an ideal. Now Google may give up his effort, and here comes the dark age of Chinese netizens.Alas!


bismarck111 wrote:
"Baidu is a toy..."

Have you driven Baidu lately?

"There is no way for Baidu to come close to matching google search results for millions of obscure terms unless they hack into google search database. A search engine is good only as the the database it builds up from search queries. How many Chinese are using Baidu for the terms "polytetrafluoroethylene" or "Harrod–Domar model"?"

I actually searched "polytetrafluoroethylene" and "Harrod–Domar model" using Baidu. I am very impressed. I don't see major differences between Google and Baidu, other than Baidu assumes the user a Chinese and returns the results more relevant to a Chinese user.

An improvement Baidu needs is to support more languages. Currently Baidu only allows user to select 简体中文, 繁体中文, 全部语言(all languages). Baidu should allow user to chose English and Japanese as well, so that it can return the results more relevant to such users.

I see Baidu have great potential beyond greater China. Google's search technology is probably overrated.

"I think the Chinese authorities really been caught flatfooted by Google's decisions. They don't know how to respond."

I think the Chinese government is giving Google a silence treatment, and waiting Google's next move. The Chinese government will probably run the current Google management out of town, but in a reasonable and civilized way.

The Chinese government has most of cards, and Google is very dispensible.



In chip making business, a FAB factory can cost easily billions and therefore has very little room for second place, plus, the barrier to entry is sky high.

In searching engine business, you're only as good as your latest data base and search algorithm. I still remember when Yahoo and Microsoft the titans of that industry until a little outfit called Google came out of nowhere and the rest is history.

Baidu is prospering only because of the unique and unsustainable Chinese conditions. I'll take any bet you're welling to wager that except in the distorted market of China, Google will kick Baidu's behind in every other markets imaginable.


going into china the way it did was a good idea. busineses have to try everything they can. however hoping that china will change over time is too much for any one doing business there. so one has only two options. play to their tune and don't be frustrated or suprsed when they change the goal posts. or get out. getting out is prudent as it shows one is serious. it also sends a strong message to china. so google leave and be knowing you tried. the US government can't change china. unlike other smaller countries china has money and cannot be threatened to change. only the people of china will change china and it wont be because of an american corporate.


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