Google's Problems in China

In September 2000, Google began operating a search engine in Chinese by offering 24 million web pages in Chinese language (Refer Exhibit IV for Internet and Internet search market in China). By 2002, Google had gained lot of popularity in China owing to its simplicity and ability to carry out searches effectively.

During that time, the Chinese government was blocking several websites through IP filters intermittently. The blocking increased during times of heightened security like the anniversary of Tiananmen Square events, the national party congress, etc. But users of Google could circumvent the government censorship through cached pages...

Google wanted to have a major presence in China. The market was lucrative because of its size. China had the second largest number of Internet users after the US. Google felt that only a local presence could help it to provide better and more reliable services to customers. To operate in China, Google needed an Internet Content Provider license, which required it to filter its content. In April 2005, after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Information Industry in China, Google announced the opening of a representative office in Shanghai (Mainland China), and registered the URL - www.google.com.cn...