Will there ever be a Google.com.cn?

It is already registered.

[dirson]

I read that China is to allow foreign companies to register .cn domains, even if they have no China offices:

[asia.cnn.com...]

But I discovered that 'google.com.cn' domain is already registered:

[find.whois.co.kr...]

[dirson]

And 'google.com.cn' is redirected to 'www.email.com.cn'

By the way, the domain expired on Dec 3rd:

expr-date: 20021203

[Woz]

Given the recent blocking of Google into China, I would be surprised if Google would be allowed to operate within China, and I guess the Chinese are just making sure.

BTW, related thread on Chinese Domains [webmasterworld.com].

Onya
Woz

[bill]

The .com.cn domain names have been available for years now. Until recently it was necessary to have a physical presence in China to register a name. It was only as of December 15, 2002 that the .cn registration was made available worldwide. It's hardly a big surprise that someone would see the value in this name and snatch it up. ;)

CNNIC has a full Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy [cnnic.net.cn] in English that Google would be free to pursue if they're interested. Arbitration guidelines seem to be pretty clearly laid out.

[Diklee]

Given the increasing importance of the Chinese Internet market and the recent launch of google.com.sg, I won't be surprised to see google extending into China. I heard that Google is already a popular search tool in China, but I can imagine that companies such as sohu and baidu.com.cn will fiercely prevent what had happened to Yahoo and Altavista to happen on them.

In addition to political [in]correctness, google may fall into the "information provider" category which prevents it from operating in China without a major partner. [Haven't check if that law still exists now.] Besides, google still has to polish up its Chinese search quality and to understand the Chinese online advertisement market a bit more.

[bill]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld Diklee. Glad to have you aboard.

There is a very good FAQ [neustar.com.cn] about .cn names over at NeuStar who has partnered with CNNIC to provide Registry gateway services for the .cn domain.

I found this interesting:

Are second-level registrations (.CN) being offered in addition to third-level (.com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn) registrations?
Not at the present time, although CNNIC and NeuStar intend to accept second-level .CN registrations under a new policy in the near future. Additional details will be provided as they become available.

I take this to mean that something like Google.cn will eventually be available, which would be a lot more desirable. The current availability of third level domains isn't much of a draw, at least for me.

[martinibuster]

And you can expect the .cn google to be filtered by the Chinese Government anyway.