[LINK] Google's deal with the Chinese government; Hong Kong as some kind of oasis

[Robin Whittle]

I found some reports on the arrangement Google has made with the
Chinese government to retain its licence:

  http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/07/china-renews-googles-license/
  http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/09/analysis.google.china/

It looks like Google called their bluff and then did something
to save the government face.

The page at:

  http://www.google.cn

has links to three Chinese Google services for music, translation and
"products", and the page looks like it has a search entry form, with a
prominent purple, underlined "google.com.hk" faux link underneath it.

However the entire Google logo and the faux form and link are all
part of an image:

  http://www.google.cn/landing/cnexp/google-search.png

which, if clicked, loads the uncensored Hong Kong page:

  http://www.google.com.hk/webhp?hl=zh-CN&sourceid=cnhp


The English committed acts of utter bastardry against the Chinese
people in the 19th century, trying to addict, weaken and so
essentially enslave them them, with thousands of tonnes of opium
grown in India:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

not to mention grabbing territory and fighting wars . . .
Now, Hong Kong is a much more civilised place:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hong_Kong_Skyline_Restitch_-_Dec_2007.jpg

According to:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

30% of the world's tobacco consumption is by 350 million Chinese
people, mainly purchased from a company which I think is state-
owned.

Yet Hong Kong has much tighter smoking regulations:

   The overall daily smoking rate in Hong Kong is 11.8%
   (HK Department of Census and Statistics Household Thematic
   Survey 36) with 25% of males smoking whereas in China 63% of
   males smoke. [citation needed]

The proportion of people smoking daily was halved from
2001 to 2008:

  http://www.tco.gov.hk/english/infostation/infostation_sta_01.html

It seems the English legacy in Hong Kong is very different from
160 years ago.

  - Robin