Comments on: Why it’s Good that Google.cn Leaves + SEM (2)

By: Beyond Google: How can foreign companies operate successfully in China’s Internet space? | The China Observer

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 15:20:59 +0000

[...] Why it’s Good that Google.cn Leaves + SEM (2) [...]

By: Google Redirects! But Will The Chinese Government Block?! | china/divide

Google Redirects! But Will The Chinese Government Block?! | china/divide — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:42:18 +0000

[...] these other websites to remain accessible.Previously, as long as self-censored Google.cn existed, Chinese netizens could opt to go to uncensored Google.com or any other Google search property. Google.cn allowed these other websites to remain accessible. [...]

By: Uln

Uln — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:19:53 +0000

Hi, thanks for the peifus! ::)

Some comments said similar things before, and I agree only partially. More than all that however, I think one of the reasons why many Chinese don’t use G.com is that they find it extremely annoying. Every time you get an RC it is really disruptive and you have to wait a few minutes to use google again. That was partly my point: if Goggle.cn is closed down, Google users will be forced to use G.com, and this will make the censorship more obvious and it will push more people to start using proxies and get better surfing habits…

The little notice appearing on G.cn is a lie, because it says: “according to local regulations”. This might be true for porn, but I would like someone to explain which law in the popular republic forbids writing biographies of the Chinese leaders, for example (such as a wikipedia article). It is misleading, because users just think: “ah, good, in China we have our own regulations”, when they should be thinking “oh, damn, a bunch of crooks in the propaganda department are manipulating me and covering up information at their will”.

By: Juan Torregrosa

Juan Torregrosa — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:38:36 +0000

I still think that G.cn is much better for chinese people than G.com. Among other things it has:
Writing in pinyin, chinese instructions, the music tool, the chinese aesthetic,etc.
…not to mention that G.cn reminds people that the information they search might be limited by Chinese law.

…just stumble upon your great site one days ago. Awesome work 佩服佩服

By: Uln on Google.cn – “Why it’s Good that Google.cn Leaves” | Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:10:58 +0000

[...] posted a great piece on the Google matter on his blog. Go there to read the whole thing – a selection follows. [...]

By: Raj

Raj — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:57:48 +0000

Uln, can you e-mail me about this post please? Cheers.

By: Google Leaving China Will Not Be A Revolution, Televised Or Not | CNReviews

Google Leaving China Will Not Be A Revolution, Televised Or Not | CNReviews — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 06:21:14 +0000

[...] No Google In China“. In his blog post, Richard comforts me before ceremoniously declaring Uln the winner: Kudos to Kai Pan for all the work he did in laying out his argument. The winner, [...]

By: NFX

NFX — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:47:50 +0000

Uln,

That is certainly a fair and interesting point, thanks for helping me see it more clearly- there is much food for thought on this topic that’s for sure. Cheers.

By: Chаrter 08: Why it should be called Wang | CHINAYOUREN

Chаrter 08: Why it should be called Wang | CHINAYOUREN — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:09:19 +0000

[...] See this post for a more clear explanation of how the internet censorship works in China and this one for the ways in which Google -and many other search engines- collaborate with the Chinese [...]

By: Uln

Uln — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:02:57 +0000

@NFX:
1- Those searches on .com are not “blocked completely”, what you are seeing is an RC, if you wait 1 minute it goes back to normal.
2- Anyway, you have a point that, RC blocking being more disruptive, Google.cn is more convenient for lazy people to use.
3- But that is precisely my point: BECAUSE of the existence of a more convenient Google.cn, most Chinese Google users are seeing the internet as an outlet of the People’s Daily. Now THAT is what I call manipulation, and it is a shame for Google.

By: NFX

NFX — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:03:50 +0000

Uln,

I have just done a couple of tests and do now see that you mean that you can use Chinese on .cn and .com and receive greater results from the latter when searching for sensitive subjects. When searching on both for everyday subjects in Chinese the results are the same.

One concern, and that i just experienced, is that the searches seemed to be quickly blocked completely on .com. If that were to continue to be the case, sensitive issues being blocked on google.com, then there would still be an important place for .cn to cater for Chinese peoples’ wider interests, as it would be a more natural choice of site for them.

Anyway, I am not quite sure about your second emphasis, this is of course and most certainly all about the diversity and depth of information accessible to people. You may well believe that this diversity is best served by losing .cn and you may be right, I am just trying to work this out a bit as well, your posts and site have helped, thanks.

ps. With regard to freedom and diversity of information I found it ironic that the day Hilary Clinton made her speech on Internet Freedom, The New York Times announced it was going to start charging for online content.

By: maxiewawa

maxiewawa — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:51:47 +0000

Nice post! I’ve added it to my facebook feed, surely the highest praise a blogger can get.