Google Inc, the world's largest Internet search company, was facing a new controversy in China yesterday, just two weeks after it launched with the Chinese name Gu Ge (
After coming under fire for agreeing to self-censorship, Google's choice of Gu Ge, meaning "valley song" and meant to signify traditional songs that celebrate a rich harvest, has been mocked by www.noguge.com, which started an online petition demanding a name change.
More than 10,000 users have signed the petition, rejecting Gu Ge as being "garbage" or "unpleasant" and offering more than 50 alternatives.
By yesterday 4,820 users had said they favored Google renaming itself Gou Gou (
A Google spokeswoman was quoted in Chinese media as saying that Google would take no legal action against the site and was willing to discuss the name with the critics.
The name had been selected by Google CEO Eric Schmidt from 1,800 choices to symbolize a "fruitful and productive search experience," it was announced at the name launch on April 12.
Though Google's competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo had already complied with Chinese censorship requirements, it attracted heavy criticism because it was the last major global search engine to do so, justifying the move as abiding to local "laws and customs."
China's Internet police block hundreds of Web sites that are deemed politically sensitive and try to keep content broadly in line with the ruling Communist Party's ideology.
Separately, Google has denied a report that it may buy China's Sina Corp (
"Google is not in talks with Sina," Johnny Chou (
Business Week reported in its "Inside Wall Street" column that Google is considering acquiring Sina, China's biggest Internet portal, to expand in the nation.
Sina is a potential acquisition target because it is cheaper than its peers, Business Week said, citing investment firm Clay Finlay's Jane Hsieh, who manages a US$7 billion portfolio invested throughout Asia.
"Google has never approached us about a possible acquisition," Sina president Charles Chao (
Alibaba.com Corp (
Google China president Lee Kai-fu (李開復) said in an April 13 interview that the search engine may buy domestic companies to "grow our talent base, technology and portfolio."
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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