探寻百度的独特的企业文化

A game of hacky sack is a typical part of Wang Yixuan's day at this not so typical Chinese workplace. Wang is an engineer at local search engine Baidu, a company that he says allows him and his co-workers to break free from China’s strict office norms.

“When we are at work(s), we are, we always, equal and we share each other’s opinions. It’s just like play.”

Baidu dominates the internet in China. The company’s website is the go-to-destination for Chinese to search online, more popular than Google even before the US web giant’s dispute with government authorities here. Baidu credits its success to knowing when to embrace local practices and when to borrow from the freewheeling customs of the West.

“There is no hierarchy, no politics here. And so people, you know, feel that they are part of the owner of the company that they can contribute, and you know, your opinion, if it’s innovative and good, it’s respected no matter what kind of rank you are.”

Wang was attracted to that approach. He joined Baidu right after graduating from one of China’s top universities over three years ago. At 29, he now manages a team of 20. Their job—to make sure if you do a search on Baidu, you find what you want fast.

“Most of my friends, they called me, ‘can you rank my website to the first place?’ and I should tell them, ‘No, I can’t.’”

Even so, Baidu faces stiff competition to woo new workers. The internet has found a host of new start-ups. And despite Baidu’s edgy image here, the average age of workers at the search engine is only 26, as China’s young people look to be a part of the next big thing.

“My dream is to be, just to be an engineer, a great engineer.”

Whether it’s on Baidu’s futuristic campus or not.

Eunice Yoon, cnn, Beijing