No Google? Chinese unfazed

A WORLD without Google? They can imagine it just fine in China. After all, it's not like losing 'World of Warcraft'.

The online giant's threat to pull out of China over censorship has drawn little reaction among the country's 384 million Internet users. No flood of complaints to China's consumer rights agency, like the tens of thousands received in one day when the online fantasy game 'World of Warcraft' was yanked last year because of a bureaucratic turf battle.

Nor has there been the type of fury that saw 32,000 indignant gamers participate in an online chat session on the 'World of Warcraft'.

'If Google leaves China, we'll lose one search engine. But we still have other choices,' said 28-year-old Deng Zhiluo, who works in marketing in Beijing. He said while Google's search results are more 'international,' most of what he wants can be found on Chinese competitor Baidu. 'For locals, Baidu is enough.'

The indifference of many Chinese points to a telling challenge for Google in the world's most populous Internet market. The Chinese Internet world is youthful, with people under 30 making up 61.5 per cent of the online population, and Google's cause isn't generating popular support among China's wired teens and 20-somethings. 'It's like in the US saying, 'You can't use Yahoo search anymore',' said T.R. Harrington, CEO of Shanghai-based Darwin Marketing, which specialises in China's search engines. 'What would people say? 'So what? I'll use Google more, and I'll try Bing and I might try a few other ones ... I don't care.''

Google threatened three weeks ago to shut down its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, citing cyberattacks emanating from China plus attempts to snoop on dissidents. -- AP

Choice for China web users

The trouble Google is having generating support among Chinese underscores how successfully the communist government controls information. While authorities have set up an extensive network of Internet filters, blockades and monitoring - dubbed the 'Great Firewall of China' - that's only part of the picture.

China's permissible Internet universe is flooded with choice, with 3.2 million registered Web sites offering politically acceptable news coverage and loads of diversions from shopping to music downloads.

The generation of Chinese currently in their teens and 20s are known for their love of consumerism and disdain for politics. Most aren't interested in scaling the 'Great Firewall' by using proxy servers or other technical subterfuges, according to Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based technology analyst. Their favorite online activities: listening to music, chatting with friends and playing video games.

For many sites blocked by the government - including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - there are readily available, government-approved Chinese substitutes: Youku and Tudou for videos, Kaixinwang and Renren for social networking. Sina.com, the largest Internet portal, runs a Twitter-like microblogging site.

'Baidu does the same things as Google,' said 30-year-old IT salesman Zheng Hongyi. 'And if it leaves there will be more companies coming up to fill this need.'

Outside big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, Google's brand recognition is low, said Tangos Chan of Internet and technology blog China Web Radar. When visiting his rural hometown in southeastern Fujian province a year or so ago, Chan found that some of his childhood friends 'didn't really know what it was ... they just use Baidu.'

While Google is generally seen in China as the go-to site for searching overseas Web sites, Baidu is known for being better at finding Web sites in Chinese, both in China and abroad. The Nasdaq-listed company also runs a popular message board, online encyclopedia and vast digital music library.

Baidu has about 60 per cent of China's search engine market, compared with Google's 35 per cent, according to Analysys International, a Beijing research firm.