A day after world's leading internet firm, Google shut its search engine for China, the step drew admiration, hate and anger in equal measure from the country's netizens.
Reaction poured in blogs, tweets and wired comments had a common thread of users expressing bewilderment what it will mean for internet services they depend on.
The extent of provocation it must have caused to Beijing became apparent as the government was believed to be attempting to block access to Google's new uncensored site in Hong Kong from the mainland.
Vast majority of the comments and blogs on Chinese mainland websites appear to express hate and anger towards Google.
But tweets and comments that appear to come from users in mainland China on websites based outside the country express sympathy and support towards Google, and anger towards the Chinese government.
China's state media came down sharply on Google's decision to quit saying the internet firm had taken a huge misstep in the world's largest online market.
The newspapers claimed that Google would earn little sympathy from users who had been loyal to it in China and following the official line said the firm had turned its dispute on government web censorship and cyber attacks into a political issue.
The Global Times said there was an improvement in China's business climate and urged foreign companies to adapt to "transnational Chinese society"
The exit of Google from China would cleanse the country's internet of "pornographic and subversive content" besides providing a major opening for domestic and international web companies to make a dent into the market, the daily said.
"With the company's credibility among Chinese netizens now plummeting, Google will be greeted with less sympathy and fewer parting sentiments from Chinese Internet users," it said.
Google's decision on China has its own implications: US
Internet search engine Google's decision to stop censoring search results on its sites in China has its own implication on that Communist nation, a top Obama administration official today said even as he ruled out any US role in the company's ruling.
"I would seriously consider the implications when one of the world's most recognisable institutions has decided that it's too difficult to do business in China. That has implications, but that ultimately is something for China to evaluate," US assistant secretary of state for public affairs P J Crowley said.
"The State Department was not a party to this decision. This was Google's decision and we respect it," Crowley told reporters in response to a question.
"We support internet freedom. We believe that the unimpeded flow of information through search engines across the internet, other technologies is a fundamental right and a universal principle. But as to a particular decision that Google has made, it was theirs to make," Crowley said.
At the same time, the US official said intellectual property concerns have been an ongoing topic of discussion and concern in America's relationship with China.
"We have expressed those views on a number of occasions. Ultimately, individual businesses will make judgments as to the investment opportunity in China. We value the economic relationship between the United States and China. Our trade has grown exponentially over the past 20, 25 years," he said.
"As to the issue of internet freedom and the flow of information around the world, including flow of information within China, that will be something that we continue our discussions with China on," Crowley said.
