Google, the world's most popular Internet search engine, yesterday launched a Chinese-language service that will be stripped of content deemed offensive or subversive.

 

The self-censorship was the first for Google in China. The company does not restrict access to Websites on its English-language search engine, though government censors do block links to forbidden material.

 

Other Internet giants including Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN have also censored material "in exchange" for being allowed to tap a market comprising 110 million Internet users, the world's second-largest market.

 

The government bars access to 20 broad content categories, including pornography and other banned material. Cyber surfers who enter forbidden keywords in the search engine at the new www.google.cn will receive this message: "In line with local laws and policies, parts of the result are not listed."

 

People who use Google's English service in China won't be affected by the company's self-censorship, though they will still be restricted by government censors who monitor Internet activity.

 

Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba and Yahoo China, and a Microsoft spokesman also said they respect Chinese policies and censor content in their search engines, blogs and e-mail services.

 

"The new Website is a platform designed specifically for Chinese users, and we plan to launch products similar to those on our English-language service here as well," Cui Jin, a Google China public relations representative, said yesterday.

 

The new Chinese-language products may include the map service Google Earth, blog searches and video services.

 

Google, whose China market share lags Beijing-based rival baidu.com, plans to establish its first research and development center in Beijing in the third quarter.

 

Under the lead of Kaifu Lee, Google China's incoming president and a former Microsoft vice president, Google has recruited more than 50 engineers to advance its plans, according to Cui.

 

(Shanghai Daily January 26, 2006)