A debate is raging over Google's presence in China. But it's not what you think. Chinese Googlites have started an online petition in opposition of Google's new Chinese moniker "Gu Ge," a protest that, for certain, has gone to the dogs.

Google recently re-branded itself in China as Gu ("valley;" some say "harvest") Ge (song). But according to NoGuge.com, a recently established protest site, Chinese dissidents are calling for a return to the popularized "GouGou" or "dog dog." Randy Jackson couldn't be happier.

"The name Guge makes us feel bad, it disappoints us," reads NoGuge.com, "Google are you listening?" (Much thanks to IDG for the translation.)

So what they're saying is, Shakespeare's rose commentary was full of it. The rose would stink a bit if you called it an onion.

On Google's official Chinese blog, Google China employee Cui Jin defended the Valley Song choice. We're going to quote it from Google's translated page just for fun. Then we'll retranslate from IDG's explanation.

"In China, we " the valley song manifesto " seriously expressed " the information also has very much, we had to do were also more " faith, borrowed in one user Blog the glyphomancy good advice: " Valley song: First undergoes poverty-stricken, the latter happiness, the frost and snow plum blossom, spring is in full bloom…

"How 3. dogs dogs will later meow meow manage? The snake and the miniature pig joins, warlord tangled warfare! Fears! Google is the multi- faces, these bone ash level user, Google throughout about you, the valley song cannot substitute Google."

Not even Google, which can define wonderfully obscure words like "heresiarch" by scouring the web, knows what "glyphomancy" means. How that onomatopoeic (and nearly poetic) translation should have read, according to IDG:

"Gougou may sound like a cute name, but Google's Chinese name must be a company name, product name, brand name, and a Web site name; Gougou is just not appropriate."

Cui further defends the new brand name with an anecdote about her father, who can better remember where she works if Google uses the name GuGe.

Nonetheless, GouGou still leads in the online poll, followed by Goule, which means "enough."

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Heya, jmiller!
It seems the protest can't change the ideas from google. On the other hand, it's a signal that google has a lot of fans in China.
in my eyes, "guge" is neither positive nor negative, it's just neutral.
Even baidu is a neutral name without considering the poem written in Song Dynasty 800 years ago.
Brand name is a part of marketing strategy, "Guge" shows that google are confident in creating a brand new name. May i conclude like this? LOL

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heya Panda

heh...makes me think of that wonderful Anime romp Ranma 1/2

You may conclude any way you wish. I was near Shanghai once while living in Japan. I had planned to travel to China for vacation but my parents wanted to meet me in Maui instead.

Tough call that one...Go see another amazing and ancient country and spend my own money, or let my folks foot the bill in a tropical paradise. I opted for free and beautiful...but part of me wishes I'd checked out Shanghai.

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"I never met a Kentuckian who wasn't coming home."--Governor Happy Chandler

He he: welcome to Shanghai anytime, jmiller;
If you will notify me whenever you come over here, i will invite you for Chinese food.

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