Google's growth strangely parallels the rise of the current Chinese leadership. Hu Jintao became vice-president of China in March 1998; Google was incorporated six months later, in September 1998.
He became general secretary of the Communist Party of China on 15 November 2002, shortly after Google News was released on 23 September 2002.
Hu became President of China on 15 March 2003, a few days after Google launched AdSense on 4 March.
Wen Jiabao became Chinese Premier on 16 March 2003, the day after Hu became President.
Google's growth
Google moved to Googleplex, its new headquarters in Mountain View, a year later, in March 2004. It was a landmark year for Google. It launched its initial public offering (IPO) on 19 August 2004, which gave it a market capitalization of more than $23 billion, according to Wikipedia, making many Google employees instant millionaires. I have been reading about it in Ken Auletta's book, Googled, a must-read for anyone interested in the internet and the media.
Google made a splash in 2004 with new products too, as you can see from this chart based on Google's own timeline, which for some reason ends in February 2009.
In 2004, Google launched Gmail by invitation only — it wasn't thrown open to everyone till 2007 — and introduced Google Desktop Search, Google Scholar and linked to Picasa. More innovations followed in 2005: Google Maps, iGoogle, Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Blog Search, Google Reader and Google Analytics.
In January 2006, Google.cn went live in China. Google Calendar was launched in April 2006, followed by Picasa Web Albums and Google Checkout in June, Google Apps for Your Domain in August and Google Docs & Spreadsheets in October that year. Google also acquired YouTube in October 2006.
Google seems to have made fewer new products for personal use since then.
Google Gears was launched in 2007 followed by the Google Chrome Browser in September 2008 and Google Friend Connect in December that year.
But more new products for personal use were launched between 2003 and 2006.
The rise of China
2003 was a crucial year for the Chinese leadership too. They had to contend with the Sars crisis and public protests in Hong Kong forced the authorities there to shelve the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which would have enabled the Hong Kong government to pass special laws "to prohibit any act of treason… against the Central People's Government" in Beijing.
The Chinese leadership has consolidated its power since then. President Hu and Premier Wen were re-elected in March 2008. They staged the 2008 Summer Olympics, coped with the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and led China to new heights of economic and political power, made all too clear by the 2009 financial crisis and the Copenhagen climate summit, which failed to reach any meaningful agreement largely because of Chinese opposition — or so it is said.
The world cannot ignore China any more than internet users can do without Google. Professor Samuel Huntington in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order wrote of a "greater China" just as the media talks of a "Googleverse". Ken Auletta's book, Googled, has the subtitle: The End of the World as We Know It. That could be said about the rise of China, too.
But Google has to contend with Facebook, Apple and Microsoft.
Washington so far has sought to cooperate with Beijing.
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