Google in China: Going, going, gone

And they’re gone. Google announced last night that they’ve closed their China-based search engine and are redirecting users to a Hong Kong-based uncensored version. *Update: It ’s been censored.

Some called it ‘historic.’ State media calls it “totally wrong.”

Here is state media’s take, via Xinhua:

BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) — Google has “violated its written promise” and is “totally wrong” by stopping censoring its Chinese language searching results and blaming China for alleged hacker attacks, a government official said early Tuesday morning.

The official in charge of the Internet bureau under the State Council Information Office made the comments about two hours after the online search service provider announced it has stopped censoring its Chinese-language search engine Google.cn and is redirecting Chinese mainland users to a site in Hong Kong.

“Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks,” said the official.

“This is totally wrong. We’re uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts,” the official said.

Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond made the “stop censoring” announcement in a blog post at about 3 a.m. Tuesday Beijing Time, more than two months after the company said it had been attacked by hackers supported by the Chinese government and was considering pulling out of the Chinese market.

To get a sense of how the news is playing in China, check out this screen grab from People’s Daily, the voice of the Communist Party: