The battle is not over. Google Inc.'s closure of its Chinese Web-search site, Google.cn, and relocation of the portal to Hong Kong last month is only a skirmish in the fight between the Internet giant and the government in Beijing.

Some see the move as the first real challenge to Beijing's mercantilism and a harbinger of a shift in thinking in the business community about the Chinese market. Some see Google's action as a bold statement on behalf of freedom; for others, it is an attempt to cover a failed business strategy. The truth is more mundane but just as important: Balances are always being struck between principles and profits, and the calibration process is a constant.

Google entered China in 2006, eager to tap the potential of one of the largest and fastest-growing Internet markets in the world. With over 380 million netizens, China was an irresistible temptation, even for a company whose motto — "don't be evil" — seemed to promise conflict with an authoritarian government that seeks a tight grip on information. Within four years, Google claimed a 35 percent share of China's search market, a comfortable position but a distant second to the homegrown competitor Baidu.