Further to our earlier story on visitors to Google Blogsearch being redirected to Baidu in China, new reports have surfaced that would indicate that China has unilaterally blocked all three major search engines in China and is redirecting all requests to Baidu.
Digital Marketing Blog posts that all requests to Yahoo.com and sub-sites are being redirected to Baidu. Google Blogscoped forums indicate that Live.com is also being re-directed to Baidu, as well as confirming the Yahoo story and our earlier Google post. The re-direct would also appear to apply to YouTube.com.
There is some suggestion that the news of the Dalai Lama being awarded a prize by US President George W Bush may be behind the move, but this is unable to be confirmed.
I’ve written previously on the possibility that China may use its firewall as an economic tool as opposed to a censorship tool alone, and although censorship may be partially behind todays blanket ban of US search sites, the redirect to Baidu would indicate an economic motive; if the Chinese Government were serious about censorship alone we would have reports of page not found/ blocked messages, not redirects to Baidu. The Chinese Government is clearly using its censorship regime to the economic benefit of a Chinese owned (but NASDAQ listed) company. Although the United States Government is a poor WTO member (Antigua anyone) given that China is a recent member the US Government should lodge a complaint with the WTO. China expects free and open access to Western nations but is now not only blocking, but also redirecting domestic traffic away from Western internet sites that compete with local firms.
Update: Danny Sullivan has confirmation on the block and redirect from Google.
Well, look at it this way. chinese sites shine in china and only in china.
Yet they use technology that was invented here in the US? :\ Could someone please point out to them how they’re making an ass of themselvesthe?
thefirstreader
the ultimate of all ironies: the great firewall of China is powered by American tech.
As the president of a company that’s about to release a search engine competitor, all I have to say at China is :
Your schools and edu programs are so bad… Baidu is a joke. And on top of that you have to copy everything that the western world does. Nothing, but nothing from China is ever original, and you have no talent.
http://www.nyti...21cnd-toys.html
You make bad toys, and you make western executives look stupid in front of investors. Screw china, screw them to bloody hell. It’s like those swisscom euronet services in European hotels which redirect your browser to the payment page.
Why not have all western ISPs redirect all request to Chinese businesses such as Lenovo, ect… to HP, Google and other western services? Why not? Why not play on the same level as them(barring having death vans)
usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-14-death-van_x.htm
What a great country.
http://en.wikip...uglas_MacArthur
Screw the govt that stopped this man.
whats douglas macarthur got to do with this?
I’d just like to say as a person who’s currently living in China and as someone who uses both Google and Yahoo multiple times throughout the day (morning, afternoon, and night) I’ve yet to be re-directed to Baidu.
Amazing Live.com is also being re-directed to Baidu, I found Bill Gates saying.. China is the future for research..
I think China is more of a problem to civilization than was Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
On the US being a bad WTO member. As a Canadian I would like to point out that the US has been illegally putting tarrifs on our soft wood lumber imports for years, bringing that industry in Canada to it’s knees. Thousands of people have lost jobs and many more lives have been impacted by this.
This issue has been brought to the WTO 3 separate times and the WTO has ruled in Canada’s favour all three times. Yet the US is still illegally taxing the soft wood lumber being imported from Canada.
If the US does go to the WTO over this issue, there is no guarantee that China would listen to the ruling even if they were ruled to be in the wrong.
Can’t confirm this news!!!
At least, I can access google blog search in Shanghai right now.
Well this is worrying if this is true.
To the commenters above who seem to revel in the fact that the technology was made in the USA then I worry about you. What does that matter? Honestly?
The fact of the matter is, soon enough the Chinese market will be bigger than the UK and US combined. You cannot ignore that. Even if you leave aside the economics they may soon have superior technology.
You have to look long term on this issue.
Here’s a Digg style website for Chinese Internet and Hi-Tech News:
http://www.chinamemes.com/
“The fact of the matter is, soon enough the Chinese market will be bigger than the UK and US combined. You cannot ignore that. Even if you leave aside the economics they may soon have superior technology.”
What good is playing in a market like that?
It’s like playing at a casino where they use fake dice and have a computer controlled roullette table?
It’s like playing in pre-war Cuba. What a GREAT economic investment idea Cuba was. Coke, pepsi, the auto industry. Oh yeah, they were all over there. Then they found out that CUBA IS COMMUNIST.
MS, Google, Yahoo, ect.. are so STOOOPID, I will never understand them. I have a feeling they have management that were originally from these countries, which incidentally will never BUY anything because they steal all their software, that cried to the US management to open branches there. Nothing stable will ever come from China. It’s as good an idea as investing in North Korea.
You have to be such a brainwashed idiot to set up a branch there. I had exchange teachers from China in highschool. I did a documentary on them for A/V class.
s/roullette/roulette/
Where did you manage to get BS news like this? Do you guys even do the most basic fact checking anymore? I am sitting here in Beijing and browsing (and searching) yahoo.com, google and live.com. Live.com is bit slow at the moment, but I am not blocked, let alone redirected to baidu. Can’t believe people actually believe outrageous stories like this.
Some of you probably remember reading stories, including on this blog, about all rss feeds being blocked in China not too long ago. Those stories were refuted by even western bloggers living in China. And the bloggers are frustrated that nobody cared about the truth. What’s with you people? Does it really feel so good to hear how little freedom people get in other parts of the world? Sorry, but you will be sorely disappointed again this time.
For clarity, I have yet to read anything that suggests that China itself is behind this. Couldn’t it be that Baidu is paying the ISP’s?
Chris:
You are so ignorant. That Cuba comparison was so terrible.
and…
Why not play on the same level as them? Because we have greater moral than they have.
George, link to your blog. How do we know you are not a govt official PR person? They do that you know? Pop up randomly to steer public opinion. They have ISPs over there show images of policemen when people search for democracy.
http://www.tele.../30/wnet130.xml
Say it isn’t so.
Chris, I’d be so happy if my govt started doing official PR on tech blogs. Just get a proxy inside China and check it out yourself.
The reason here is really complicated.
Anyway, I feel very sad when I see this post.
“I’d be so happy if my govt started doing official PR on tech blogs.”
Oh I bet you would. I bet you would just be bursting at the seams with joy!
Chris,
Instead of posting more here and allowing your borderline racist nature to surface, maybe you should pay attention to your own BeerCo website and make sure you spell things correctly on that website http://www.beer...com/rates.shtml.
You pounced on this story, and I call it story, not news, without verifying the claim yourself. China’s education system is bad? Obviously not at all levels. Have you checked top US universities graduate programs? They are full of Chinese students. Baidu is a joke? If you had only got in on Baidu stock during its IPO you might be able to retire now. No talent from China? Have you looked at the staff make-up of the top tech companies in the Silicon Valley?
Maybe I shouldn’t direct this at you. The nature this “story” is released and the reactions from some of the posters are both disappointing and annoying.
I don’t know who is spreading these rumors I am living in Beijing for a while and I can asure you there is no redirect from google, yahoo or live…simply not true
@David,
The website’s spelling is correct and it’s valid html
http://validato...m%2Frates.shtml
“China’s education system is bad? Obviously not at all levels. Have you checked top US universities graduate programs? They are full of Chinese students.”
Why are they in Universities in the US and not in China. I think your statement validates my point. My calculus class in College was FULL of Chinese students, that could hardly speak english. Do they belong at schools here where their numbers are disproportionately high to numbers of local students? No.
The other guy was like ” oh yeah buddy, just get a proxy inside the Chinese CISCO firewall, and you’ll be all set to read my blog ”
Give me a break. Would China let all of our local students go there and go to their Universities in great numbers? They won’t even let me visit that dude’s blog.
This is insanity. I won’t even reply to you anymore.
@ Chris
Yeah, Chinese EDU is really a bullshit.
But what about the invaders to China hundreds of years ago? The western countries just robbed China’s money.
Chris, I told you to get a proxy in China to check if the story here is true or not.
>> This is insanity. I won’t even reply to you anymore.
Thank you, I think you have said enough
“George, link to your blog.”
“Just get a proxy inside China and check it out yourself.”
We’ll call it lost in the translation.
“But what about the invaders to China hundreds of years ago? The western countries just robbed China’s money.”
They gave American indians coats full of small pox and told them it was a winter present. So what? That’s history. I have a list so long of complaints against China, it would not fit here with a 100 yard vertical scroll bar. I am leaving this as is. China is a communist country. That MEANS something. People these days with all this high tech stuff seem to forget the meaning of things.
The Chinese government really sucks. Time to recognize Taiwan as independent country (which it is). This will make them really upset
“The fact of the matter is, soon enough the Chinese market will be bigger than the UK and US combined. You cannot ignore that. Even if you leave aside the economics they may soon have superior technology.”
That may be true eventually but thats at least 50-100 years out.
In the meantime make money investing in china
……..no word to say…….
my dear youtube.google china should save him…………..
off topic:
England has the best educational institutions in the world!
This news is even shocker than the last one. Hopefully to watch more media reports about this issue. If it is really a unilateral action, it is too bad.
– Yihong
Chris,
Last time I checked, Service was not spelled “Serice,” as your COMMERCIAL site would indicate. I even pointed the exact page out to you and you still refused to find it. Yet you make fun of the English of your classmates. Is that what your great education taught you to do? Or are you still bitter that those non-English speakers kicked your ass in the class (and in the work force).
I think we now see there response to giving the Dali Lama a medal. This would also be in line with their threat to not buy T Bills the last time we we did something they didn’t like. Expect to see more of this is the future. China knows one thing. The fastest way to US decision makers is through their wallets.
If this is true USA should pull out of the Olympics next year.
@David, one typo, which incidentally is now fixed, on a site with thousands of words of text, is hardly tragic, and it certainly does not invalidate what I wrote.
China is not any better because there was a typo buried in the far reaches of our website. It doesn’t make it any better or change anything I’m afraid.
That would be like China killing or jailing a protester for life then saying, well, we gave him a lollipop first, and he smiled briefly, so it was all ok. That detail nullifies everything. Am I right?
I could say something, but I’ll refrain for the sake of peace on the internet.
Duncan, I do not mean to be rude, but … REALLY?!!!
So the Chinese finally decided to start walking the world and exert their “weight”. We have been waiting for this for the last 20 years and now it is happening. We did have plenty of notice.
also sitting in beijing and use google, yahoo search daily and have NEVER been re-directed EVER. Who cares about live but it is not re-directed either. You tube gets blocked and / or slowed very often but never re-directed. This story is total lies.
It is true however about the RSS being blocked. Has been for several weeks now.
Remember that in China, people use Google.cn. I highly doubt requests for Google.cn are being redirected to Baidu.com. I’m sure some Chinese would prefer to see a Chinese company lead the search market in China, but this rumor just sounds like an attack on China’s reputation.
btw. youtube was working yesterday and was totally blocked earlier today. Not re-directed for sure though.
Gee, it’s good that Google did all that self-censorship and Yahoo did all that dissenter-hunting so they could do business in China. Sergey, Larry, Jerry, and David need to be introduced to my friend Neville Chamberlain.
Boycott the Olympics
Isn’t it posible that this article was posted by a government official.. ha.
I would hate to see this thread devolve into another nationalistic flame war. As an american, I don’t particularly like the chinese government, but I do like the people and I can tell you that we (average people, not governments) have much more in common than most people think. If you ever spend some time there you’ll enjoy it.
As to this article, it may be an over-reaction and it has not been proven. However, I see Duncan’s point about the ease of government interference in the internet economy, and it is a very important topic IMO!
The US going to the WTO … I almost fell out of my chair. So the US ignores any ruling against it but wants to use it to tell China what to do? I think the US lacks one very important thing, the ability to see itself as others see it …
John, either you’re with us or you’re against us. take a stand, have a backbone.
China is a crappy totalitarian cesspool of slave labor, censorship, poison products, and oppression.
Outsourcing to Commie China is brain dead. I hate every friggin CEO who has moved shopfloors to China.
Poison pet food, toys, juice concentrates to USA is an Act of War.
China is the enemy of the world.
I have already declared cyberwar, mindbot, and blogocombat on China and am doing everything I can to destroy this rotten country.
http://twitter.com/vaspers
I’m an American currently living in Beijing, and I can at least _partially_ confirm that something’s going on. I normally use google.com, and as of right now it still works fine. However, about 30 minutes ago search.live.com began redirecting to baidu. Youtube was working yesterday, but is now timing out. Also, the “feeds” item is somewhat true as well – I’ve been unable to load any redirect involving “feeds.feedburner.com” or “feeds.dzone.com” for the last few weeks (thank goodness for Google Reader).
That said, I think everyone needs to calm down a bit. It’s annoying and arrogant, yeah, but I doubt this is a permanent situation (it’s probably related to the current political meetings). Hang on a few days and see if it’s still happening, then figure out how to handle things.
Oh, and Mr. Scoble? As much as I dislike this move, there’s no way this is cause for the US to abandon the Olympics. That kind of reaction is way too drastic for this sort of situation. Save that for a sudden invasion of a certain offshore “province”.
@vaspers: tells us how you really feel.