We celebrated Robin Li’s birthday in HMB at our annual LP meeting, and updated his golden Frisbee with the platinum edition (for $25 billion of value creation)… and we should have added for billions of queries served. The news came out this week that Baidu serves more searches in China than Google does in the U.S.
Above all, I admire your stamina for meetings! I would need expresso by continuous infusion! For these lids to remain open I need relative constant motion.
It is interesting that technology may (hopefully) overtake our differences in goverment policy and eventually create a true global community.
Found this in wiki (not all posted in wiki is true, but still)
very poetic… strange – it was chosen as a name of Chinese search engine and it appears that this story is told from a female perspective:
“ Many people have asked about the meaning of our name. ‘Baidu’ was inspired by a poem written more than 800 years ago during the Song Dynasty. The poem compares the search for a retreating beauty amid chaotic glamour with the search for one’s dream while confronted by life’s many obstacles. ‘…hundreds and thousands of times, for her I searched in chaos, suddenly, I turned by chance, to where the lights were waning, and there she stood.’ Baidu, whose literal meaning is hundreds of times, represents persistent search for the ideal. ”
—Robin Li[10]
The name "Baidu" is a quote from the last line of Xin Qiji’s classical poem "Green Jade Table in The Lantern Festival" saying: "Having searched for him hundreds and thousands of times in the crowd, suddenly turning back by chance, I find him there in the dimmest candlelight."
A summary of the entire poem: Flowers bursting into bloom in the sky, stars falling like rain (fireworks/meteor shower), and Whole streets filled with perfume, jeweled horses pulling ornate carriages, fish and dragon lanterns dancing throughout the entire night. A body decorated with golden thread and butterfly trinket, laughter that has a subtle fragrance. Having searched for this person until exhaustion, when suddenly turning back by chance, I find him standing lonely in the far end of the street in the waning light."
There is an interesting story on p.10. of a book I just ordered, Silicon Dragon where they interviewed the Baidu founders about the early days:
"The Baidu saga began in Silicon Valley in 1997, when Baidu co-founder Eric Xu and Li were introduced by Li’s wife, Melissa… In 1998 and 1999 Xu filmed a documentary called "a Journey to Silicon Valley," which later aired on Chinese television. In 120 hours of taping, Xu interviewed legends such as Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers; Albert Yu, the now-retired programmer at Intel Corp.; and venture capitalists Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Bob King of Peninsula Capital. After watching Xu’s documentary, Li was energized. He asked Xu to lunch the next day. At a Chinese restaurant in Sunnyvale, Calif., Li pitched Xu to become his partner.
A few weeks later, the co-founders opened their doors on Jan. 18, 2000 in Beijing. They named the startup Baidu, which translates as "seek for truth," a name derived from an ancient Song Dynasty poem.
Baidu failed with three knockoffs of successful U.S. Internet business before finally turning a profit with a fourth."
We were investors during that exploration period, becoming the largest shareholder in Baidu, then and through the IPO. It may prove to be the best long-term investment hold in our history.
I caught up with Baidu co-founder Eric Xu this weekend at a VC BBQ, and he pointed me to the YouTube reposting of his documentary, and emphasized its role in the formation of Baidu and the inspiration for the founding team. He wrote: "To me, this movie is the prelude to making of Baidu." Here it is, and I am hoping to get it translated with subtitles somehow: Intro and more here, here and finishing with the Chinese entrepreneurial opportunity in the economies of the mind.
Xu on left: 
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