Though executives at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View surprised many people last week by releasing an announcement of their possible plan to leave China, the epicenter, Google’s offices in China, has remained largely silent since then. However, yesterday afternoon (Beijing Time) Google China released a short announcement on their official blog in Chinese to clarify some rumors:

To clarify some untruthful rumors
January 19, 2010 PM 06:03:00
Posted by: Yun Liu and Wenluo Yang

Over the past few days, we have seen a lot untrue rumors about Google China and Google’s employees: there are reports that we have closed the office in China, and there are some reports that we have employees in China who had recently been notified to leave their jobs. These [rumors] are all untruthful. Currently, Google employees in China are working in the offices as usual, to discuss product development and to communicate with [our] customers. Despite Google executives in the head office [in Mountain View] having recently announced that they will discuss some matters with the Chinese government in the next few weeks, Google China’s employees are still, as always, making an effort to provide our customers and partners with the best products and services, [since] customers and partners are very important to Google.

Though the announcement is too short and doesn’t haven’t enough information to rule out the possibility of quitting, I smell a slight discrepancy of opinions between Google China and its parent company in America (note the keywords I highlighted). At least the announcement shows that Google China still has confidence and commitment to the Chinese market, which was lacking in the announcement from Google Mountain View last week.

It’s too early to say what’s really inside Google executives’ mind and how they will play the game with the Chinese government. Who knows? Maybe they will only withdraw the localized search engine google.cn while keeping most other services, like Gmail, Google Map and Google Music in China? But one thing is for sure, that Google already put itself in an inconvenient if not awkward position in the forthcoming discussions with the government, since any compromise will be read as a betrayal to its “don’t do evil” ideology, from both Chinese and Western perspectives.

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The official Google blog released a post on January 12 saying:

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.

…

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

This blog post has already been translated into Chinese by a Chinese netizen.

The reasons provided by Google for the closing of their Chinese offices are rather vague if not unpersuasive.

• Yes, cyber attacks exist in China and some originated from this country, but Google is not the only victim and even its major opponent Baidu recently got DNS hijacked by the so-called “Iranian Cyber Army”.
• Second, isn’t it Google’s responsibility to utilize all its technical might to protect users’, including human rights activists’, privacy? Saying “we will retreat because some of our users’ email account were monitored” is like admitting their own disadvantage in technical strength and persuading users to switch to other companies.
• Third, I fail to see why compromise of some users’ computers due to their own lack of sense in internet security is a fault of Google itself: anyone using ANY email system could be hacked if the user acts like a security newbie, and it doesn’t matter where the login portal pages are hosted (I remember Google doesn’t have a data center in China).

Maybe Google and the Chinese government failed to reach an under-the-table deal recently and Google thinks the revenue from China’s 26% search engine market (already larger than the US market in number) doesn’t pay the cost of following local laws and the damage of reputation from “doing evil”? But isn’t the trouble for millions of Chinese users of backing up GMail and other Google service accounts a part of “doing evil” too (if these backups are needed)? And how does Google China settle the eight hundred employees in its Chinese offices?

I really hope this announcement is just a protest (or a joke) from Google to the Chinese government against its protectionist policies and the company will still keep running in China or it’s really the saddest and naivest thing I have ever heard in 2010. Anyway, I will follow this incident and report updates on chinaSMACK in the next few days.

Further readings:

• Slashdot: Google Hacked, May Pull Out of China
• WSJ: Google Warns of China Exit Over Hacking

From The Telegraph, “Google threatens to pull out of China “:

After the announcement, Google’s China website immediately began to offer reports and images of the Tiananmen Square massacre and other highly sensitive events that Beijing has suppressed for decades.

Note: I failed to get these “reports and images” from Google.cn when I tried.

UPDATE:

From Xiang Ligang’s Blog (on Sina):

Google’s renouncing its Chinese operations is merely psychological warfare

In the past few days [the Chinese Internet] was filled with big news from search engines. Yesterday, Baidu failed to work for several hours, and then this morning, Google announced on its official blog that it is considering closing its China operations and also the website Google.cn.

I think Google’s announcement is basically a kind of psychological warfare and is unlikely to be implemented, otherwise the losing side is Google and the netizen. However, the majority of Chinese internet users will forget this incident in no more than three months and only few people will remember it occasionally, like ripples on a pool of water.

Google made such a declaration which is related to the conflict between its ideology and management [in China] recently. Since the beginning, Google has not thought of itself as a media, but a search engine, and [Google believes that] search results are technically determined [rendered purely from algorithm] and it [Google] should not be responsible for the management [censorship] of these results. In the United States, if there are contents that affect the image of the leadership and even [result in] personal attacks, Google just makes a statement [won't pull these contents down].

Thus, in the Chinese market, Google has no intention to adjust itself to adapt to the Chinese situation, but in full accordance work along their own ideology [that were discussed on the above paragraph]. Therefore, under the media exposure in the Anti-Pornography campaign, Google could barely handle the situation and had to change its leadership in China. Even in such a situation, Google has been facing the pressure of taking on more management responsibilities [from the government].

On the recent copyright lawsuit with the Writer’s Society, Google didn’t understand [the Chinese writers' appeal] well either. Google’s understanding is, they did not scan all the books nor made them available for readers but barely scanned a portion of the books, which should work as indexes to facilitate readers’ inquiry and learning and even to some extent help the writers increase their books’ publicity. Reaction and impact in the Mainland are things that Google finds hard to understand.

For Chinese people, we think these things from different angles and we will understand varies levels’ [social classes'] feeling, but for Americans, it is difficult to accept [understand].

However, will Google really withdraw from the Chinese market? Personally, I think this is just psychological warfare. For the world and the internet industry, losing China is like missing a huge market. And in the subsequent development of the Internet, for example 3G-related services, there will be a large number of areas that Internet companies must pay attention. Losing the Chinese market will be a major blow to Google’s global strategy and will also affect its future strategic layout [of the global market]. In the long run, its mobile phone [Nexus One], mobile operating system [Android] and other related services will face a big problem.

The most important thing, after quitting the Chinese market, is: Will Google’s relevant departments in China be facing a lot pressure? No department [of Google China] would actually be held accountable. The majority of internet users will not be affected much, while the only suffering ones are Google’s employees [in China]. The result will be that Chinese [companies] become increasingly powerful [have more future market share] in search engines and 3G businesses. Think about it, the day when Google wants to reenter the Chinese market, it will be completely uncompetitive. And if they adopt such a confrontational action [quitting the Chinese market], it’s hard to say how the cooperation between Android and Chinese enterprises will be affected.

I think China and the United States have always been strategic rivals and, at the same time, partners in many areas. For Google it is the same, they must realize that [people in] China and the United States do not feel [think] the same thus they must find more channels to exchange [opinions] and to communicate, and they have to be far-sighted to see through all these [Chinese characteristics]. Quitting is not an attractive option for Google.

Chinese Netizen Reactions

Below I have translated some comments by Chinese netizens about this news and added a poll to ask what you think about what will happen. – Fauna

Comments from KDS:

ThE:

服部半藏:

Now this a big company’s behavior!! In the future I will definitely buy a Google mobile phone to show my approval!! (But it needs to be a bit cheaper).

月色朦胧:

At the time, it was on Google that I/we searched and found Sexy Photos Gate. We cannot not have Google.

小姐侬好:

What use are the [Chinese] netizen masses…American government…hurry and help/support Google…

東京タワー:

2 possible outcomes:
more freedom or no freedom

白兔先生:

Over the past 5 years, I’ve personally always used Google~The name “谷歌” [gu ge] is too “2″ [sha, "stupid"].

root:

Baidu is a puppet , Google finally rises up/stands up!

毛豆子:

NND, no matter who you are, the moment you come to the Celestial Kingdom, you will be castrated.

燃烧の酒精:

When searching for AV girls, I will think of Baidu Baike, but for normal things, I look to Google.

今天不下作:

For this, Google must be supported, fuck, in the future I won’t use Baidu anymore!

RR拖拉机:

I definitely support Google, definitely do not lower your head [bow, give in] to the Celestial Kingdom [Chinese government].

坏掉的鼠標:

iGoogle is my homepage.
Google Reader is my newspaper.
Google Documents is my document editor (and furthermore just today it began to accept any file format for upload).
Google Voice is my communication tool.

Without Google, how do I survive?

Ru.J:

Shut it down.
TG [The government] already does whatever it wants.
Entering email boxes, deleting the account owners’ emails…
is tantamount to
entering someone else’s company and kicking out the old customers.
They [the company] can no longer do business,
so of course they will want to leave.
I ding you Google.
Your name will go down in history

2010 January 14 ~1:30 UPDATE: There are rumors (or jokes) that Google will help their Chinese employees get American Green Cards but require a 3 year employment contract. — Fauna

2010 January 14 ~13:00 UPDATE: More translations to read… — Fauna

• “Google Leaving China? Chinese Responses” (ChinaGeeks)
• “Google China photos: because I’m without words” (CNReviews)
• “Withdraw?  Google Is Only Throwing A Hissy Fit!” (EastSouthWestNorth)
• “The Chief Design Officer of Baidu Reacts to Google’s Withdrawal from China” (EastSouthWestNorth)
• “70% Chinese Internet Users Surveyed Don’t Think The Government Should Make Any Concessions To Google” (EastSouthWestNorth)
• “Google Leaving?  Is this because they couldn’t adapt, or because they are bitter?” (EastSouthWestNorth)

I am a little suspicious of the Huangqiu poll that says over 70% of Chinese say the Chinese government should not accept conditions from Google. Please note that only ~2000 people participate in that survey question, but more than 17,000 people participate in the other survey questions. Strange?

2010 January 17 ~15:00 UPDATE: More readings. — Python

• “Clearing Up Confusion on Google and China” (WSJ’s China Real Time Report)
• Google China changed its logo after the incident. “Google.cn Highlights China’s Great Inventions” (WSJ’s China Real Time Report). Read: EXIT.
• “China’s puny online ad market, and Google” (Danwei)
• If you are as curious (and geeky) as I am,  read on “Code Used To Attack Google Now Public” (Slashdot). Google should seriously consider fire its employees who are still using IE6 on Windows XP and hire me.
• Quote from Kaifu Lee, founder of Google China who left Google last year, on his microblog, “A captain would never run away from his duty, if he knew the ship was sinking.”
• Keso made a list (Chinese) on Google-gates (scandals) in China. All 19 of them since 2006, from copyright infringement to pornography, to tax evasion, to breaking its promise on earthquake donation.
• Something hilarious to watch, “What Baidu will look like once Google is gone from China” (Shanghaiist)
• And an even more hilarious piece translated by ESWN, “The Truth About The Google Affair”.

2010 January 18 ~2:00 UPDATE: – Fauna

• “I am just speculating.  By Han Han.” (EastSouthWestNorth)

2010 January 20 ~11:00 UPDATE: — Python

Google China released a short announcement on their official blog in Chinese. I translated it here on chinaSMACK:

To clarify some untruthful rumors
January 19, 2010 PM 06:03:00
Posted by: Yun Liu and Wenluo Yang

Over the past few days, we have seen a lot untrue rumors about Google China and Google‘s employees: there are reports that we have closed the office in China, and there are some reports that we have employees in China who had recently been notified to leave their jobs. These [rumors] are all untruthful. Currently, Google employees in China are working in the offices as usual, to discuss product development and to communicate with [our] customers. Despite that Google’s executives in the head offices [in Mountain View] recently announced that they will discuss on some matters with the Chinese government in the next few weeks, Google China’s employees are, as always, making an effort to provide our customers and partners with the best products and services, [since] customers and partners are very important to Google.

Not threatening to pull out of China. chinaSMACK personals.

Time to consider a VPN service? Freedur is an advertising sponsor of chinaSMACK and it is what we use. It recently released a new version and additional servers.

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On January 3^rd, within 20 hours, Beijing experienced the heaviest snowfall since 1951, accompanied by force 5-6 winds. The highest temperature was only -9 Celsius degree. China Meteorological Administration issued both warning of cold wave and orange (high) level alert of snowstorm.

In the picture: the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian’anmen) after a snowfall.

Note: Click the images for larger versions of the photographs.

A vehicle cleaning snow in Tian’anmen square.

The Forbidden City in snow.

In January 3^rd, a machine was removing ice from an airplane in Beijing Capital International Airport. The snowfall made 520 flights delayed and 655 others canceled. Tens of hundreds of passengers were stranded in terminals.

Outside of Beijing Railway Station, passengers who just got off cars/buses were waiting to pass safety inspection to enter the station.

About 1400 passengers on train #1814 from Harbin to Baotou were trapped in a snowstorm in Shangdu county, Inner Mongolia. Firefighters had arrived and were digging up the carriages.

Fortunately, food, water and lightening equipment etc were sent to the spot in time. No injury to passengers or firefighters was reported.

People having a snowball fight in Beijing.

Young people were playing in the snow beside the Bird’s Nest stadium.

A man was helping a senior in a wheelchair to experience the new year’s snow.

In Tianjin. A resident wrote on snow to hope for a prosperous new year.  The Chinese word 大吉, or “da ji” in pinyin, means “highly auspicious”. Chinese people have a saying: A auspicious snow brings forth a year of abundance.

Ladies have the spirit. Beijing Woman Winter Swim Team was giving a public performance in Beijing.

The cold wave from the north is so strong that places where people rarely saw snowfalls in southern China got white too. In Wuhan, Giant Panda Weiwei sure loves getting wet!

Temperature of nine degrees below the freezing point in Beijing makes such a warm day for people living in the Northeast. In this picture, Harbin folks were playing a ball game with only swimsuits and Santa Claus hats. What’s the temperature there? Minus 32 to minus 16 Celsius degree. I wonder how Harbin people define ‘cold beer’.

In the 22^nd Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo, a female model was giving her incontrovertible proof that only half of human been can (and need to) survive the next ice age. More pictures on the Expo.

Just for fun, I’ve also translated a Chinese soup recipe below which is said to be useful to help the human body resist cold, to save the other half of Homo sapiens. :)

Stewed mutton with white turnip

Materials: mutton, dried red jujube without stone, white turnip, white peppers seeds, Chinese cinnamon, common fennel, salt and crystal sugar. (Don’t ask how many grams you will need. This is Chinese culinary art, not a Germany food-making science. Use your cooking instinct to determine the amount. Asking how many ounces is even worse). You may also add something else you like, for example green onion, tofu and mushroom.

Cooking method: Put scalded mutton in a terrine. Add some soy sauce, cooking wine, enough warm water, some red jujubes and a small cloth bag of white pepper seeds, Chinese cinnamon, common fennel and ginger slices. Cook with medium flames/temperature until water boils. Then turn the flames to low and let it simmer until the mutton is 80% stewed and then add some salt and crystal sugar to taste. Also put chunks of white turnip into the terrine. Cook with medium flames/temperature for about 30 minutes and it’s ready.

It’s a bit too early to send out greetings of a Chinese happy new year so here I hope everyone enjoys the snow while remaining safe and healthy!

Need someone to help on cooking stewed mutton with white turnip? Why wait until the next ice age? Sign up and bring home the one from Personals @ chinaSMACK in 10 minutes.

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Two brave Chinese reporters went to Somalia and interviewed local people, which they claimed was the first time Somali pirates exposed themselves to international media in an interview. Besides rolls of precious photos they brought back together with their lives, they made an assertion that they have found the real reason behind the rampant piracy in this war-torn country.

The good news is, they are having a photo exhibition NOW in Shanghai!

What: 《寻找索马里海盗》影展

Find Somali Pirates Photo Exhibition

Where: 上海昆明路721号（近通北路）现场酒吧

721 Kunming Road (Jintong North Road), Xianchang Bar, Shanghai

When: 12/12/2009 TODAY, 8:00 am – 7 pm (This is the time on the poster but the website says it will be open until 5 pm)

Website: The exhibition’s webpage on icpress.cn (in Chinese)

Please read the Chinese announcement in their website for more information if you are heading for the exhibition now.

The bad news (for me) is I’m not in Shanghai otherwise I’m already on the way to the bar because I love war stories! However, I will post more photos in this post.

Not sure whether this one was taken in Somalia

Note: Photo credits go to Morning News report Zeng Yu (《新闻晨报》记者曾玉).

Update:

An article from The Beijing News came out after my post. A summary:

1. The five guys in uniform were their hired bodyguards. The interview was in January in 2009.

2. The guy in the third from bottom photo was a pirate leader, nicknamed Najib. The five bodyguards refused to enter Najib’s heavily guarded house so the two journalists paid Najib to do an interview in a hotel.

3. Reason of piracy they found: foreign fishing ships took most water area that were traditionally their fishing places and then a lot of fishermen became pirates for a living. Najib’s monthly income was about $10k from fishing before he became a pirate. However after foreign ships took fishing waters, Najib could no long catch much fish and when he heard some of his friends got rich as pirates, he joined in.

4. In the local free market, many products are from China. Some were smuggled into the country.

5. Najib also told the reporters how he and his fellows hijacked a ship and got 1.5 million in the first action.

6. The reporters found that the locals are optimistic and full of vitativeness. They think if people could catch as many fish as before they would quit from piracy and return to their normal lives. A young folk they interviewed told the reporters how much he loved fishing. One of their bodyguards was once persuaded to become a pirate but he refused.

7. Local people, especially their bodyguards, gave them an impression of trustworthiness and even brotherliness. In another article they tell how they established a friendship with their bodyguards in ten days and one of them even shed tears when they parted.

8. The reporters think the solution to Somalia’s piracy problem should be a strong and effective central government in the country and the international community should offer their best help.

CCTV interviewed the two reporters (in March) and posted it online with videos and photos they took in Somalia. A fascinating story!

The pictures posted here are far from the best. Watch the video. There are photos/videos of guns, explosion, police transporting criminals in vehicle, pirates in a boat with RPGs, local market and even the bodyguards’ family members. One interviewee told the reporters part of the ransom was used to bribe the government, some for weapons and some went to public funds (but he’s reluctant to say what funds).

They felt the people’s desire for knowledge. One bodyguard asked the reporters to buy some English books on geography in China since he wanted to work in petroleum industry in future.

A fascinating story!

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Tile workers [most of them are also migrant workers] are a large group of people. What’s the difference between their daily lives and ours [probably refers to lives of the forum readers who are mostly city residents]?

I will show you a common tile worker’s one day in this post. The person I’m going to introduce to you is Wang Shifu [Wang is his family name and Shifu or Master, is a common addressing given to, but not limited to, blue-collar workers in China]. He’s thirty-nine years old, from Henan province and he has been working in Beijing for sixteen years.

Wang Shifu lives in Demao Zhuang outside the South Fifth Ring and his current working place is in Datun which is out of the North Fourth Ring. He has to cross nine ring roads everyday to work place ……

Work hours for tile workers are not fixed from 9 am to 5 pm so in order to arrive in the construction site by 8 am, he has to take the first Speed Bus [a part of metro transportation system] at 5:30am. He leaves his home at 5 am in every morning.

If a man is iron then a meal is steel [a Chinese proverb which means eating well is important to keep people energetic]. A white-collar worker may skip a breakfast and still be unaffected but since tiling work requires physical labour, a good breakfast is a must.

A box of steamed stuffed buns and two bowls of purple rice porridge are the breakfast for Wang Shifu and another young Shifu.

This is the crowded Speed Bus line No. 1 that takes numerous people to Beijing to work in the early morning. To save on living expenses, they don’t rent a place in or near the city but live in suburb and take crowded transportation tools into the city. They don’t even dream to have a life with a house and a car in Beijing.

That’s a dream too far away for them.

The destination of the Speed Bus is Qianmen. Then Wang Shifu takes subway toward the North Ring direction. Taking bus there requires much longer time.

Make time to take a nap in the train. Who [has the fortune] to ride such an empty train to work?

There’s a 15-minute walking distance between the subway station and the construction site. A scene of an empty station is unfamiliar to most of us city commuters but it’s a part of everyday life for Wang Shifu.

Wang Shifu’s construction site is on the top floor of this small building which has the feature that all tile workers hate: no elevator. Everything has to be carried up by hand.

7:25 am

Wang Shifu comes to the ground floor. Since there’s no elevator,  moving things up and down is a big problem.

Wang Shifu takes construction materials upstairs and construction waste downstairs every time he comes down to the ground to reduce the time of moving things.

The bag of sand in the picture, is the thing he is carrying with himself to the sixth floor.

7:50am

Today’s work is floor leveling. The first thing he needs to do is to clean up the mess on the site.

8:10am

Wang Shifu is preparing the material of construction: sand.

All the sand is carried to the top floor by him and the young Shifu.

8:30 am

Wang Shifu and his young apprentice Tian Shifu are working on a leveling string. It’s said this is the first step in floor leveling. Correct setting of the leveling string is crucial to the degree of levelness of the entire floor so they must be very careful.

They are doing measurement carefully.

9:40 am

They start to mix cement with sand to make the material stuffed in the floor’s foundation.

11:00 am

Lay the mixed cement against the leveling string, wait until it becomes dry.

12:00 pm

Wang Shifu and Tian Shifu are having lunch: Sichuan pickles, peanuts, a big bing [a Chinese wheaten pancake, not the Microsoft one] and a bottle of beer.

This afternoon’s work is tiling walls. After taking an afternoon nap they are preparing for tiling.

1:30 pm

Wang Shifu starts to install tiles which he’s very good at. He often receives praise from customers.

2:30 pm

A wall is almost done.

Continue installing ceramic tiles.

6:10 pm

Tiling has been finished on the upper part of the wall in bathroom.

Let me tell you a trick on tiling. Why hasn’t the bottom been tiled yet? Wang Shifu told me it’s called “wall pressing on ground” and the bottom should be tiled after the floor is tiled to avoid been flooded [Something professional. I have no idea what it is].

Calibrating.

6:40 pm

Tired, having been working for a whole day, Wang Shifu walks out from the community and is heading home.

He has to take the subway first then the Speed Bus to his rented house outside the Fifth Ring. He rarely works overtime.

From waking up and hurry to his work at 5 am in the morning, to finishing work at 6:40 pm in the evening[, that was the day of Wang Shifu].

Tomorrow, his work will be continued, day after day …

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