Google China
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Coordinates: 39°59′34″N 116°19′24″E / 39.99278°N 116.32333°E
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| Type | Private (subsidiary of Google) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founder(s) | Kai-Fu Lee |
| Headquarters | Beijing, People's Republic of China |
| Area served | Mainland China |
| Industry | Internet, Computer software |
| Parent | |
| Website | www.google.cn |
Google China (谷歌, pinyin: Gǔgē, literally "valley song" or "harvest song", though it is only a transcription) is the subsidiary of Google, Inc. in the People's Republic of China's mainland. As of 2007[update], Google, Inc. is the world's largest Internet search engine company.
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[edit] History
Google China was founded in 2005 and is headed by Kai-Fu Lee (李开复, 李開復), formerly a Microsoft executive and the founder in 1998 of Microsoft Research Asia. Microsoft sued Google and Kai-Fu Lee for the move but reached a confidential settlement.[1] The office was initially located at NCI Tower and later moved to Tsinghua Science Park in early 2006. The newest office has been in use since September 2006. It is a 10-floor building located in Tsinghua Science Park, near the south gate of Tsinghua University.
[edit] Business
Google China serves a market of mainland Chinese Internet users that was estimated in June 2007 to include over 162 million people.[2] This estimate is up from 45.8 million in June 2002, according to a survey report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released on June 30, 2002.[3] A CNNIC report published a year and a half earlier, on January 17, 2001, estimated that the mainland Chinese Internet user base numbered 22.5 million people; this was considerably higher than the number published by Iamasia, a private Internet ratings company.[4] The first CNNIC report, published on October 10, 1997, estimated the number of Chinese internet users at fewer than 650 thousand people.
The competitors of Google China include Baidu.com, often called the "Google of China" due to its resemblance and similarity to Google.[citation needed] In August 2008, Google China launched a legal music download service, Google Music, to rival Baidu's potentially illicit offering.[5]
[edit] Controversy
Prior to Google China's establishment, Google.com itself was accessible, even though many of its contents were not accessible due to censorship. According to official statistics, google.com was accessible 90% of the time, and a number of services were not available at all.[6]
Since announcing its intent to comply with Internet censorship laws in the People's Republic of China, Google China has been the focus of controversy over what critics view as capitulation to the "Golden Shield Project" (also known as the Great Firewall of China). Because of its self-imposed censorship, whenever people search for interdicted Chinese keywords on a blocked list maintained by the PRC government, google.cn will display the following at the bottom of the page (translated): In accordance with local laws, regulations and policies, part of the search result is not shown. Some searches, such as (as of June 2009) "Tank Man" are blocked entirely, with the only the message "Search results may not comply with the relevant laws, regulations and policy, can not be displayed" appearing.
Google has argued that it can play a role more useful to the cause of free speech by participating in China's IT industry than by refusing to comply and being denied admission to the mainland Chinese market. "While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," a statement said.[7]
A PBS analysis reported clear differences between results returned for controversial keywords by the censored and uncensored search engines.[8] According to The New York Times, Google has set up computer systems inside China that try to access Web sites outside the country. If a site is inaccessible (e.g., due to the Golden Shield Project), then it is added to Google China's blacklist.[9]
In February 2006, Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, was quoted as saying virtually all of Google's customers in China were using the non-censored version of their website.[10]
Google critics in the United States claim that Google China is a flagrant violation of the Google motto, "Don't be evil". [11]
On April 9, 2007, Google China spokesman Cui Jin admitted that the pinyin Google IME "was built leveraging some non-Google database resources", this was in response to a request on April 6 from the Chinese search engine company Sohu that Google stop distributing its pinyin Input Method Editor software due to the fact it allegedly copied portions from Sohu's own software.[12]
In early 2008, Guo Quan (郭泉), a university professor who had been dismissed after having founded a democratic opposition party, announced plans to sue Yahoo! and Google in the United States for having blocked his name from search results in mainland China.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ CNET News.com: Microsoft settles with Google over executive hire (December 22, 2005)
- ^ Reutuers. "China govt centre says 162 mln Internet users." Reutuers, July 19, 2007.
- ^ Ministry of Culture, People's Republic of China. "How Many Internet Users Are There in China?." ChinaCulture.org, 2003.
- ^ China Internet Information Center. "How Many Internet Users Are There in China?." China Internet Information Center (china.org.cn), February 8, 2001.
- ^ The Guardian Google offers free music downloads in China , Wednesday 6th August, 2008.
- ^ Official Google Blog: Google in China, January 27, 2006.
- ^ BBC News. "Google censors itself for China." BBC News, January 25, 2006.
- ^ FRONTLINE: the tank man: A Sampling of What's Censored/Filtered PBS
- ^ Google's China Problem (and China's Google Problem), p8
- ^ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/06/06/financial/f161937D58.DTL Brin Says Google Compromised Principles ]
- ^ [Cohn, William A. (2 - Autumn/2007) Yahoo's China Defense. "The New Presence."]
- ^ Lemon, Sumner (2007-04-08). "Rival Asks Google to Yank 'Copycat' Application". PC World (IDG). http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130497-c,google/article.html.
- ^ Times Online. "Dissident Chinese professor to sue Yahoo! and Google for erasing his name" February 6, 2008
