Scene Outside Google China

Some Beijing residents placed flowers on the Google sign, following the company's announcement that it will no longer censor search results and may exit the Chinese market.


Later, people lit candles, evoking a memorial or a vigil.

Journalists and gawkers outnumbered anyone trying to make a statement.

Flowers for Google

Google announced this morning that it will stop censoring search results in China and is prepared to close its offices in the country if an agreement with the government can not be reached.



Since the Google headquarters in Beijing is a block away from my apartment, I swung by after lunch to see if anything was happening. Several bouquets of flowers had been left (reportedly by supportive Chinese bloggers) on a Google sign on the lawn in front of the building. A small cluster of reporters and photographers had gathered, with a few conspicuous plainclothes officers watching from the sidelines. Otherwise not much going on.

Deep Chill

Today is the coldest day in Beijing in 40 years — 15 mph wind atop a low of -4°F — following the heaviest snowfall since 1951. Many schools closed.

As noted before, the capital does not deal well with snow. Outside the city center, roads are not treated in any way: no plows, no salt, no sand. The streets look like something from backcountry Vermont. And since Beijing drivers have an inordinate fear of snow, only a handful of cars went past my apartment during the morning rush hour.