Chinese condemn Google withdrawal
Google’s decision to move most of its China-based search functions to Hong Kong opened a new phase in a two-month-long fracas pitting the world’s most powerful internet company against a government that tightly restricts the web.
A few Chinese passers-by laid flowers or chocolates on the large metal “Google” sign outside the company’s office building in northern Beijing. Many Chinese felt caught in the middle, admiring Google for taking a stand against censorship but wondering whether the government might further punish the company.
