Mark Zuckerberg's China Visit Kicks Off

BEIJING — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg toured the offices of China's top search engine Monday during a visit that has sparked speculation the social networking magnate is looking for business opportunities in the world's largest Internet market.

Facebook is blocked on the mainland, but Zuckerberg has expressed a business interest in China and has studied Mandarin.

Photos of Zuckerberg's visit to Baidu Inc. were quickly posted online.

Kaiser Kuo, Baidu's director of international communications, told The Associated Press that Zuckerberg had lunch with Baidu CEO Robin Li. He said he didn't know what they talked about but added that the two had met before.

Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook, is traveling with his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, and no apparent entourage.

"Mark has had a long personal interest in China," Kuo said.

But Zuckerberg has also hinted that he's interested in more than that, saying during a speaking engagement in October, "How can you connect the whole world if you leave out 1.6 billion people?"

Kuo tried to tamp down such speculation, though, posting on his Twitter account: "C'mon people. Robin and Mark have known each other for a while. Mark's interest in China is well known. Keep the speculation in check."

Not many in China are familiar with Facebook, but Zuckerberg is known for being Time magazine's 2010 Person of the Year, according to Kuo.

Aside from a visit Monday morning to a Tibetan temple in Beijing, the rest of Zuckerberg's schedule in China is not known.

China censors Internet content it deems politically sensitive and blocks many websites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

China's nervousness about the power of social networking was on display Monday, when the computer scientist seen as the father of China's "Great Firewall" of Internet controls apparently was forced offline by angry comments within a few hours of opening a microblog.

Anonymous posters peppered the microblog of Fang Binxing with hundreds of caustic or sarcastic comments, and eventually all of Fang's posts and the responses were taken down.

Comments

[depasquale5]

01:11 PM on 12/30/2010

Quit Facebook Now. It is for the narcissist s, for people who love pictures of themselves , men who can't commit and women who watch The Bachelor.

[PaPaPeng]

10:14 PM on 12/21/2010

[China already has two social networks that are Facebook imitators: Kaixin, with 80 million users, and Renren, with 150 million.]

If Mark decides to enter China and do so as a peer competitor to those already in the market he will do just fine. Just don't try to push his own values about morality and the superiority of the American Way on China. Most of all don't patronize China as Google did.

[BluesBro]

01:51 AM on 12/21/2010

I'm with Curiousasheck, there is bound to be a price along with the conditions. China must be very worried about social media they can't censor.

[lilylee86]

01:11 AM on 12/21/2010

Mr. Zuckerberg have done the good job, but I don't think it is quite easy to open the facebook's market in China.
WinPST Share Outlook..

[nokaoi]

12:12 AM on 12/21/2010

did deserve person of the year.

1 in 12 people on planet have a facebook account.

he realized anonymity on the net wasn't all that it was cracked up to be....i.e. chat rooms.

[Drewry Media]

01:00 PM on 12/20/2010

You have to give Mr. Zuckerberg credit, for being an ambitious young man, and making such an admirable, yet, amazing accomplishment. I think if I was focused on life when I was his age, I too could have accomplished something greater in my 20's. But, life has it's unique way of giving everyone a chance to succeed, despite age! =)

http://www.DrewryNewsNetwork.com

http://www.DrewryNewsNetwork.com/facebook

[Alien Nation]

12:34 PM on 12/20/2010

Go help the communists suppress their people. Thanks Mark, great work!

[Alexia Parks]

11:54 AM on 12/20/2010

To me, the visit is symbolic. Friend to Friend. A visit to a Tibetan temple in Bejing. A Twitter text that begins "C'mon people..." The world is becoming flatter....

[EricBishop]

11:06 PM on 12/20/2010

...with the exception of the sinkhole filled with 1.3Bn people, upon which a few million Chinese elites are standing.

[curiousasheck]

11:53 AM on 12/20/2010

Initial visit to negotiate how much bribe money it will require to get a foot hold in the market there.

[PaPaPeng]

10:22 PM on 12/21/2010

Facebook is an online venture. It sinks or swims on the utility of the service it provides. The bricks and mortar part can be anywhere in a city with a huge surplus of commercial space. Commercial space providers will be falling over their faces to get such a marquee tenant.

All one needs is a operating license from the relevant government authority. A government officer who asks for a bribe in such a high profile case is asking to see his head roll on the floor. WIKILEAKS will see to that.

[Pema]

10:14 AM on 12/20/2010

this guy gives me the creeps. and you wouldnt be connecting them doud head, you dont understand china, you only understand your small world self created. hes a fool. google tried it. look what happened. they arent impress by him. hes a phenomena and they will use him to their advantage but he is too self absorbed to know that.