There is too much information for me to consume these days.
My brain does not work very well. There are many things I want to comment on but don’t know how to start, like the Google’s case, Baidu’s case, and the recent news happening to many companies.
I just feel I cannot find quiet time to sit down to think about all these. The busy hours at work and busy schedule seem to be pretty hard for me.
When I started a new blog entry, I just feel where to get started. I admit anyone’s attention and brain power is limited resource. I just didn’t, and was not able to pay as much attention to the city I am living – Shanghai – as many years ago, and cannot focus on my life (personal life) as much as before. Yifan is a big life changer, and the business world is another.
Any reader felt the change over the last few years? I just hope I would be as helpful as two or three years ago, and report what is happening in Shanghai as before, but … I am no longer a normal citizen who take bus, metro, and taxi to hang around this city any more…
jianshuo,
I’m in the same boat. I’ve been tweeting all the important #googlecn articles and posts, but haven’t had a time to think about it enough to write my own perspective.
It is a depressing turn of events. It is an example of the “bitter winter” of control the country is going through. Some other friends of mine just shared they are leaving China and coming back to the US. That makes me wonder why I want to come to China!
Google’s pending departure is puzzling. The only explanation that makes sense is the “fictive” explanation you alluded to, coupled by increasing control and increasing efforts to cross boundaries to hack into private information.
Anyway, keep sharing about your life. Your readers still find it helpful!
“Control” is not the real reason Google is leaving China. This is only an easy excuse they are using. They are leaving with a deeper reason that’s not convenient to speak of.
What is very “interesting” to me from the Google event is not really what happened with Google… but the reactions from people. I need to point out that the event is less reported in US… though there are articles on newspapers, but I haven’t heard any of my friends talking about it. But from what I can read online… mostly from China, things are taking turns everyday… it is a bit crazy. I am not sure what it is… my impression from the reactions so far is that a lot of people (Chinese) don’t believe anything other than they “know” something is NOT is true (like the upstair Jim… how do you know that “control” is not the real reason? Are you one of the Google’s decision makers?).
The fact is, at the moment, except what was said from Google’ “statement”, nobody really said much… not from the Chinese gov. nor from US gov. Yes, the US gov responded in such a way that make one thinks that it’s possible that whatever happened involved something more than just a random hackers’ acts. The other faces we know is that the internet “environment” is not “nice” in China. (Honestly, the tighten up internet in such a way as what is going on recently only shows extreme distrust of the gov to the people… it doesn’t match the achievement record of the country).
Should we just wait to see what’s going to happen? I lived in US for about 20 years, I haven’t seen any company need to use political “scam” to save face for their business failures. Is it possible, maybe, not so likely though… it’s just not the “culture”. maybe I just don’t know enough… give me some examples if somebody knows more. I do know what face means to Chinese/Chinese companies… is google.cn so much a Chinese company?
I am not surprised but surprised that quite some Chinese especially the ones from overseas jumped on the idea that businesses should “follow” Chinese law (mostly from readers’ comment on wsj.com and some Chinese sites). OK, I agree on the concept, but how about if the “law” frankly says that people have no right to know! Why on earth anybody (unless the “leadership”) would support such “law”! I felt quite strange for these past few days after reading some of the comments… I almost want to say that if it’s true that what many people really care is law as such, there is no reason for me to care about it anymore. After all, gov is not really the force to form the society… it is people. I don’t believe Chinese people should be less free than another people… I don’t believe Chinese people should be “parented” more than other people. But if somehow most of the people believe otherwise, I won’t have much to say.
WJS, I hope you’ll continue to write and share your thoughts… for me, a Chinese living in US and caring very much about China, it is so important to know there are people like you who are doing well and care… not just about how to be successful in the business world but also about a better life for people.
Found this from another website if you’re curious what really happened about the Google case from internal accounts:
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/201001b.brief.htm (Scroll down to [012] The Truth About The Google Affair, the original link has already been deleted probably due to GFW). The above URL maybe on the GFW list also.
I really hope the media picks up on this rumor. Google’s public reaction is just an “excuse” I believe. It will become more clear in the coming days.
“I don’t believe Chinese people should be less free than another people… I don’t believe Chinese people should be “parented” more than other people. But if somehow most of the people believe otherwise, I won’t have much to say.”
It seems like some Chinese people, such as Jackie Chan, apparently think this is true, which leads me to ponder whether these Chinese people actually think themselves are actually somewhat inferior than others so that they need to be controlled, monitored and oppressed.
“some Chinese especially the ones from overseas jumped on the idea that businesses should “follow” Chinese law (mostly from readers’ comment on wsj.com and some Chinese sites). OK, I agree on the concept, but how about if the “law” frankly says that people have no right to know! Why on earth anybody (unless the “leadership”) would support such “law”!”
Apparently after 60 years of being ruled by a bunch of thugs, some Chinese people have lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. They’d just follow what the government tells them and never question the (Chinese) authorities. They’d always ask others to follow the ‘law’, while the ‘law’ is often imaginative (doesn’t really exist) and even their government itself has no interest in following the law (doesn’t the Chinese constitution guarantee freedom of expression and publication?).
GOOGLE退出中国这件事儿不在于问题本身
现在，按人的心理来讲，GOOGLE退不退出跟它们没有切身的利益关系，看了也就算了。人就是这样，不关系到你的东西总是一旁笑话来着。我不知道这是否算作是一种清醒，如果是的话，我到觉得，不如通过这件事情，看看你能看到什么程度。所以，更为有意义的事情是，GOOGLE退出这件事情除却本身以外的意义要重要得多。
是的，GOOGLE退不退出并不重要，重要的是，如果GOOGLE在中国没有什么影响力，那么，它的退出就像很多搞不去的外企公司退出一样毫无趣味性可言。有人说，GOOOGLE是想通过这件事情来炒作自己，中国互联网公司会这样，但GOOGLE不会，GOOGLE说退出那么它就会真的退出。这不是什么炒作。是一种下棋之中的先手后手之分，声明发布的时间先后对事情结果的发展有着极为重要的影响，而所谓的炒作就是，说了跟没说没得什么区别，不过是赚声吆喝而已。但GOOGLE的这种声明发布的选择，以及对结果的引响，怎么能够用炒作二字来形容，如果没有GOOGLE的这则声明，中国的态度又会是如何呢。似乎，在我看来，中国这边的事情就是要你给它压力才行，就是说，你要有足够的力量去给中国这边的人和事以压力。就像备案一样，单方面代表制度不能反应广泛的声音，就像我们的法律一样，同样让我觉得属于单边起草，通过，执行。一切标准都由某些人说了算。就像备案一样，是谁通过了这项法规的通过？所以，中国最忌讳像美国这样的公司，因为它们不属于力量控制范围之内，对内我们是民，可控，可圆其说，可想怎么样就怎么样，因为你是民，民在无民主之权来监督国家的情况下只能靠其声，而声音这个东西，让某些人担忧，一个有自信的中国为什么怕来自民的声音呢，因为民愚，民为何愚，因为民所知，所历练甚少，民愚民则有利于某些人，即怪民愚，不能放事于目，故睹封称保民，于是民继续愚。所以让人感觉，在保民愚的同时，对统治者是有好处的，至少民众好操控。但它们利用它们所谡的技术操控民的时候反过来讲民不懂事，无心智可言。这样，愚之策，反而找到了理由。但如何来开化民智呢？让人民的眼睛更加血亮呢？目前，中国还无此举动。若有的话，请告之，请在教科书里的某些政策类明示。
所以，GOOGLE不属于中国，它有自己的力量，有时，你是否认为，中美的意识形态不同，是否可以成为一个相互成为敌人的理由，还是认为，无论意识形态如何，但凭，只要是正确的东西，都可以接受。那么，在这个一家以商业为主的GOOGLE公司，在中国的商业形为，我们是否应该给予保护，这也符合世贸的精神。这是一个考验领导人的问题，对于，中国对GOOGLE的；指控，很站不住脚，如果说GOOGLE在中国非法经营，那么将其赶出去，我相信没有一个中国人会反对，而问题偏偏出在，GOOGLE没有问题，但却被某些人找出了很多问题，这就不得不让人觉得，这是在搞GOOGLE，在找荐。所以，某些人还是像对国内手无寸铁，愚蠢无比的民众一样对待GOOGLE，自然会受到GOOGLE的反击。不管对方的意识形态如何，试问，GOOGLE作错了什么？搜索色情是你自己去搜，是你自己逼不住自己的老二，管GOOGLE什么事，所以古时候中国就有妓院，是你自己去嫖，要没有人强迫你去。那这样说来，中国五千年的文化为什么还会有妓院存在？中国人不是很文明的吗，我真感到奇怪。食色性也，在合法，不伤害它人的情况下，你自己愿意堕落那是你自己的事情。所以，色情属于道德问题。而非法律问题。也就是说，是不是中国明面上不允许色情，那中国十亿人就干净了呢，我看不是，嫖的照样有，那为什么国家扫了那么多次都扫不完？所以，大家都知道，现在的中国人色的人多得很。有人的地方就有社会，有社会的地方就有好和不好。采用禁欲的办法来阻止中国人的色欲，收效就一定好吗？那这世上看来真的有唐僧存在了。可惜，我不相信这样的人。特别在遇上美女的时候。
所以，经常上网的人听到央视如此说GOOGLE就有点不在意，觉得，其实这是没事找事。中国互联网垃圾得很。中国政府除了想方设法堵，封，断以外，是否鼓励，支持中国网民中那些好的，优秀的网站发展起来呢，是否支持中国互联网空间的稳定性更好，价格更便宜，支持，广大的网民相互间的访问更容易便利，而不是用引导的办法，杜绝其上网的兴趣。是不是官办的东西才是合法的，来自于民间的力量呢，为什么中国那么怕民间的力量形成。人们是否有集会的自由。现实生活中怎样我不知道，但宪法中似乎有这个意思。但宪法的力量是否存在，我比较怀疑。一个法治的国度如何。这里就不评论了。
所以，除却GOOGLE本身以外，我们看到的就是这样一个事情，中国网民不反对GOOGLE，而反对的是中国的某些人。它们怕，它们心虚，它们怕更好的互联网服务网聚人的力量。它们为什么怕力量？它们为什么不敢站在事实面前。它们有什么不可告人的心虚。所以，如果我想搞GOOGLE的话，就应该真正的找到GOOGLE的坏的地方，然后猛搞，但问题是，找不到怎么办呢，好办，欲加之罪何患无辞。问题是，在光天白日之下贬低人家，是否会招到报应？或许，这就是阳光下的东西与阴暗面的东西不一样的地方吧。
支持中国的操作更透明化，让阳光继续深入到中国的缝里头。
:) It’s great pleasure to see you keep on writing blogs. I suppose it cool, meaningful and helpful. :)
I believe the internet is overloading people with so much information that they can’t possibly digest all of it. A little overwhelming to say the least.
Information needs to be broken down into a simple fashion.