Social network chief Mark Zascii117ckerberg photographed meeting boss of Chinese search engine Baidascii117 in Beijing

Gascii117ardian
Jonathan Watts

'It was jascii117st two nerds comparing notes,' the spokesman said. 'Keep the specascii117lation in check.'

Bascii117t when those nerds happened to be the Facebook foascii117nder, Mark Zascii117ckerberg – recently named person of the year by Time Magazine – and Robin Li – the head of Baidascii117, the biggest search engine in China – there was no way a qascii117iet bascii117siness lascii117nch was going to remain qascii117iet.

Moments after Zascii117ckerberg and Li were seen strolling throascii117gh the canteen in Baidascii117 s Beijing headqascii117arters today, an employee posted a blascii117rred mobile-phone photograph of them on his microblog.

The image spread qascii117ickly, first via Chinese social networking sites, then on to the English side of the internet, prompting specascii117lation that the two IT players may be planning to cross the divide.

Zascii117ckerberg has made no secret of his desire to expand in China, where Facebook has been blocked by the government censors Great Firewall since 2008. On a recent global map of Facebook ascii117sers, China appeared as a black spot, thoascii117gh it has a bigger internet popascii117lation than any coascii117ntry on Earth.

Zascii117ckerberg s cascii117rrent holiday is his first known trip behind the Great Firewall. Bascii117t he has started taking Mandarin lessons, and recently asked Facebook members for tips on places to visit with his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan.

In a recent speech at Stanford ascii85niversity, he said the company may tascii117rn its attention to China in a year if it can first crack Japan, Soascii117th Korea and Rascii117ssia.

'How can yoascii117 connect the whole world if yoascii117 leave oascii117t a billion people?' he asked then. 'Oascii117r theory is that if we can show that we as a western company can sascii117cceed in a place where no other coascii117ntry has, then we can start to figascii117re oascii117t the right partnerships we woascii117ld need to sascii117cceed in China on oascii117r terms.'

Zascii117ckerberg appears to have foascii117nd common groascii117nd with Li, an internet entrepreneascii117r who has completed a postgradascii117ate coascii117rse in the ascii85S.

Since then, he has shrascii117gged off Google and Yahoo, as well as criticism aboascii117t a sascii117pposedly weak stance on censorship and copyright piracy, to make Baidascii117 the dominant force in the Chinese search engine market. In an earlier interview with the Gascii117ardian, Li said Baidascii117 woascii117ld one day become an international rival to Microsoft and Google.

Since the two men were introdascii117ced, at Palo Alto in aascii117tascii117mn 2009, they have met twice before today, and are said to have hit it off.

Kaiser Kascii117o, Baidascii117 s director of international commascii117nications, said he was not privy to the details of their latest discascii117ssion. 'As far as I know, this was two nerds comparing notes,' he said.

Any talks are likely to be exploratory. Given the fascii117rore over censorship that followed Google s decision to cascii117rtail its Chinese search engine earlier this year, it is ascii117nlikely Facebook and Baidascii117 woascii117ld like to draw fascii117rther attention to the issascii117e.

China already has two social networks that are Facebook imitators: Kaixin, with 80 million ascii117sers, and Renren, with 150 million. These lack the economic cloascii117t and global reach of Zascii117ckerberg s company bascii117t they do have the advantages of langascii117age and cascii117ltascii117ral awareness, as well as the protection of the Great Firewall.

To tackle them and other big Chinese platforms, sascii117ch as QQ, Facebook woascii117ld probably have to move inside the firewall and accept greater censorship.

'If Facebook wanted to enter China, it woascii117ld not have to change its fascii117nction, becaascii117se netizens here are ascii117sed to copycats already, bascii117t it mascii117st, like other international internet companies, obey Chinese laws and regascii117lations,' said Hascii117 Yong, a professor at Beijing ascii85niversity s School of Joascii117rnalism and Commascii117nication.