Most expats have heard the story that Google has threatened to pull out of China. On one level such a move by Google would have little impact on our lives. Not many of us use the Google.cn site to search for things in Chinese characters. Yet if Google were to close down it offices and business in China, and fails to comply with Chinese laws, how long do you think we would be allowed to access Google?

Facebook is blocked, Twitter is blocked and any number of sites get blocked on a daily basis. This is simply part of daily life in the Middle Kingdom. Such services are nice but having been taken away I suspect most expats don't notice their absence.

Google however is a different matter. As the worlds most popular search engine, by providing free and honest search results, not to mention free e-mail services, it generates billions of dollars in economic activity everyday in China and around the world.

Think of it this way. If you are a buyer in Peru looking for a product made in China and you don't speak Chinese you probably first look for that product using Google. You may even use a gmail account to contact the factory in China, later if you need to book a plane ticket to China you may find a travel agent in Peru using Google. Each step of the way Google as a free and open medium for finding information about products and services it helps generate business.

Take Google away and I suspect that people will find other ways of doing business with China. There are other search engines and Biadu is one of them. In this respect it would seem a good thing to buy shares in Biadu.  Life however is never so simple. Just because Baidu is the most popular search engine in the Middle Kingdom does not mean that it will find equal favor with users in Peru.