Google and China

I have been to China three times in the last 7 years and my last trip in July of 2009 was eye opening.  The chinese have continued massive economic growth.  People are excited about the changes and the opportunities this growth has brought to the chinese people.  I think China is one of the most interesting places you can visit on this planet and would highly encourage anyone to make the trip. 

With all the excitement, if you probe you can still see the censorship.  Its a wierd place from that perspective.  Lots of great free thinking but still normal folks on the streets can parrot back to you the government propaganda without batting an eye.

With all of that said, I totally understand Google's stance.  I have read a great deal of incidents involving foriegn countries having their IP stolen and used in China without any compensation or reperation.  China needs to figure out a way to stop the IP theft that is running rampant in the country before companies will want to continue to invest in China assets.

If you missed it, Google announced on their blog on Wednesday that they are taking another look at their approach in China.  You can read the article here.

I see two possible outcomes from this.  First China can ignore Google and have them close thier operations in China and put them back 5-10 years in internet development.  Second they can use this as a step in moving forward with human rights and freedom of speech in China.  I have no false illusions that the second option will happen but listening to the young people in China talk about western ideas, movies, books, etc. feels like the gap between where its citizens want to be and where the government is taking the country is continuing to widen.