Alex posting, Jan. 16, 2010
One of the biggest news concerning China this week was the retreat of Google from China, claiming that it frequently met problems with the Chinese government scaled censorship that undermined the freedom of speech and human rights. Human rights -- a phrase commonly employed by CNN and a bunch of other western media to frame China’s current situation – now is an excuse from Google for its business failure in China.
Though human rights might play a part in Google’s logic of abandoning China, the major reason is always profit. Nike and Adidas never complained about human rights in China though the laborers in their factories are too cheap to hire.
Long since the internet emerged in China, foreign web companies have tried to dig some treasures in this vast yet ancient land. However, what most had jumped into is not a temple of long lost treasures but a tomb of humiliation. EBay lost to its Chinese rival Taobao; Yahoo China sold all its business in China to a Chinese internet giant Alibaba; Facebook doesn’t even stand a chance in its competition with Renren, a Chinese social network; Google, with no exception, is a distant second to Baidu, the most popular search engine with a 63% market share in the most populous country.
It seems that the internet market of China is like the Amazon jungles to foreigners who dares step into it. Up until now, no foreign company is a leader in any field in the Chinese internet market. The reasons are quite obvious to me. When I log onto Facebook, I am bored with the dull and uniformed themes, whereas when I log onto Renren, I’d be immediately attracted by the colorful and lively decorations. Google sure offers relatively more information than Baidu, but Baidu’s extra features such as music search, ask&answer are exclusive and pragmatic. As a scholar studying overseas, I understand how cultural clashes can be a real hindrance to communications, subsequently, business. Foreign businesses still has a long way to go in learning to cater to the Chinese customs.
As the most dominant search engine in the world, Google’s failure in China is surely intolerable to its board of directors. Someone has to take up the responsibilities. Undoubtedly, the Chinese government, already notorious for its censorship control and human rights violations, again is being put into spotlight. Google might consider its action a galvanizer to the millions of Chinese who are still unaware of the strict online censorship set forth by the Chinese government, but, who cares. They still have Baidu; they still have Bing. Months later, people will adapt to the new internet without Google.
Source of article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/world/asia/15google.html?ref=asia
I can't agree with you more:)To capitalists, profit is always the first priority. The retreat of google is the choice of the market. Cencership is just an excuse for google's failure in China market. By emphazising human rights, google distracts the public from the attacks it got recently(such as the online library) and earns a good reputation at the same time. It's very clever in some sense. I think your examples are very appropriate and representative:)
回复删除By the way, I like your the name of your blog:)
Forget to mention. I'm Rachel.
回复删除I have to say that this reflection is absolutely wonderful. It not only gives a comprehensive all-sided analysis of the current spotlight in China, but also demonstrate his unique personal opinion of this big event. It shows actual condition and reasons behind the image. The language and vocabulary are also quite excellent.
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