Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has a search business, Google, that has an average market share of 70% across the United States and most of Europe. Yet it barely has been able to get a toehold in China. Its rival in the People’s Republic, Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), owns almost all the market in that country, which has the world’s largest population of internet users, and the world’s largest cell phone market as well.

Baidu’s posted revenue for the most recent quarter was $2.5 billion, up 31%. The figure is small next to Google’s, except it is in only one country.

The balance of the Baidu’s metrics were stunning:

• Mobile search monthly active users (MAUs) were 663 million for the month of March 2016, an increase of 9% year-over-year
• Mobile maps MAUs were 321 million for the month of March 2016, an increase of 19% year-over-year
• Gross merchandise value (GMV) for Transaction Services totaled RMB16.0 billion ($2.5 billion) for the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 268% year-over-year
• Baidu Wallet activated accounts reached 65 million at the end of March 2016, an increase of 152% year-over-year

Some accuse the Chinese government of blocking the use of Google. The People’s Republic has stopped the use of Google and Gmail in some instances. This happened most recently in late 2014. China’s censors have shown concern that Google’ search results are too “open,” which leaves the population the chance to search for topics the government appears to prefer they do not see.

Google probably never will get a share of the Chinese market, which leaves its global growth hampered, at least a little.

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