Is 王 a sensitive word now?

[aristotle1990]

王 and 刘 work fine in the US on both google.com and google.com.hk.

[anonymoose]

Well that's a relief to know that the US hasn't been taken over by the Chinese government yet. Thanks. I can sleep happily now.

[AlexL]

Sorry to bring this old thread back up, but I saw a link to this site today on the New York Times website in article about Ai Weiwei: http://freewanglihong.blogspot.com/2011/07/biography-of-wang-lihong.html

Turns out the name Wang Lihong belongs not only to a singer but also to an imprisoned human rights activist (different characters for the given name, but not the surname). Maybe this is the 王 China doesn't want us to see?

[Manuel]

Searching for 王 on Google is still blocked from within China. We should find a Chinese renegade and get him to nick-name himself "The", this way the Chinese government would effectively shut down Google.

[yaokong]

Searching for 王 on Google is still blocked from within China. We should find a Chinese renegade and get him to nick-name himself "The", this way the Chinese government would effectively shut down Google.

If you manage to introduce a character with the meaning "the" to the Chinese language and make the people actively use this newly invented character, I don't see any further problems

[Manuel]

LOL I meant "The" as an English name. I know it sounds ridiculous but I own a wanky-looking bicycle helmet manufactured by The Indutiries : http://www.the-industries.com/, so I don't see why someone wouldn't want to call him/herself the. I once met a Chinese student whose English name was "Banana"... anything is possible.