If Google left China, would I follow?

Posted by Michael Michelini on Jan 13 2010

man….its all over the news these days…..Google is looking to exit the market in China….

its just gone that far in China….they are blocking my friend’s Chinese blogs here, they have blocked twitter, facebook and others….

it seems unfair, google is considered to be the last major foreign internet company in china….yahoo sold out to alibaba , so many others are blocked……

makes me start to wonder, how can i run an ecommerce internet company in china doing ecommerce and english promotion….when constantly blogs, facebook, twitter, and now google down.

how can i check my email – people all over the place here are backing up their email. its insane…..my company email is run on google apps for business. will my staff not be able to access their email.

so, i have to start thinking of what if….what if….

move to hong kong temporarily – i have some friends there. stay on their couch. decide what to do. i can continue to send money to shenzhen company remotely, i trust my staff to continue to go to the office. i will continue to pay them.

do i stay in hong kong. maybe thailand, or phillippines. i have some support and some friends in those countries. singapore is another.

or even back to usa. nah…..i have to stay on this side of the world.

am i over- reacting…..

i mean, i hope china then doesnt start to seize foreign companies in china. then again, the company is owned by the hong kong company, so the government wouldnt see me immediately as an american owned company here- they would see the company as hong kong owned.

just another day in china. is this another scare…..but it seems real, it seems a standoff between google and the chinese government. and i dont think google will win. Chinese government cannot change their censorship policy , it would make them look weak…….

http://www.mailini.com nigel

i heard the news during the exam and i was very shocked then. but i think differently now. and if you don’t like what i am going to say, just delete it and i won’t mind…

i don’t think google left totaly because the government opressed it too much. google is a monopoly, or at least a oligarch, and it got power to bargain and protect itself. like this incident, the government only got two choices:1. let it go and those who are favor of google got discontent while google won’t suffer too much loss. 2. let google stay which means google won the battle publicly and acts like a hero. so this is a hard choice for china, not for goole, you see.
on the other hand, i have to say i don’t trust google completely. i think no influential company like google can escape the influence of government or at least the nationalism. so google is maybe just a explorer trying to garp the power to be heard. if it succeed, it will become a window always open to american concept. but seems it has failed so it just say china is not open enough…
don’t intend to offend you…just speaking out what i think about this and hope to give you another prespect…

and i will leave for home on 20th leaving my computer here.but i will translate as much as i can before leaving. good luck!
http://blog.michaelmichelini.com mike

sure, i knew that the china government wouldn’t make exceptions for google. it cannot lose face to the people and look weak or make special favors.

just seems there is still such a cultural difference with western and chinese companies and the governments.

wish life would be more simple…..a bit sad….but makes us all grow
http://www.mailini.com nigel

i hesitated before diciding to tell you about my opinion. quite happy to see that you don’t seem to mind…well, we all hope life would be simpler, while fact is that it never seem to be or going to be…

i don’t think you need to leave china in such a rush, especially when your business is doing great here. but i do think it’s wise to put eggs in different baskets, just hope you consider the matter more carefully. anyway, wherever you go, i will always view you as a respectful friend and hope you happy and successful everywhere. good luck!
http://blog.michaelmichelini.com mike

Thanks for your unending support nigel.

just keep a positive attitude and life will work out
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About

American ecommerce guy, I've been living in South China - Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Dongguan (+ a touch of Philippines) since end of 2007.

Successfully selling online since 2004, took it fulltime early 2007. Love international business & connecting, and working on ways to give hard working people global opportunities. (Read More...)