Meanwhile leaving Chinese Web surfers to wonder whether the company's new offshore search engine site would be blocked by censors.
Google's decision to move most of its China-based search functions from the mainland to Hong Kong opened a new phase in a two-month-long fracas pitting the world's most powerful Internet company against a government that tightly restricts the Web in the planet's most populous market.
A few Chinese passers-by laid flowers or chocolates on the large metal “Google" sign outside the company's office building in northern Beijing.
Inside, executives briefed nervous employees about what lines of the company's business would continue. At least one client who stopped in and was anxious about his Google advertising account found staff members confused.
“Nobody in there could give me a clear answer," said Pan Yun, manager of a Beijing real estate Web site. “I just want to know if our business can continue but they couldn't give me an answer."
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