What are the simple differences between engines?

What are the differences between Google and Baidu as search engines?

• I grew up with Google, and I am heavily dependent on it. However, I will be moving to China soon where the search engine is blocked. This means I will be using Baidu. I understand that Baidu is optimized for the Chinese language. What differences in search results can I expect from Baidu as it relates to Google?

• Answer:

  Google is not blocked in China, they just refused to play by the censorship rules so don't have a search engine on Chinese servers anymore, but still have an ICP license and a website in China - people in China can still go to http://google.cn (they even own http://g.cn) whenever they like. If you go to http://google.cn it's an image of their search query box that when clicked takes you to http://google.hk, which is on Hong Kong servers and not under the same jurisdiction as mainland China due to Hong Kong's Basic Law. The former British colony was guaranteed its liberal capitalist ways for 50 years following its handover back to China in '97. Google's search results there are protected under freedom of speech. Use http://baidu.cn (with a grain of salt) or http://google.hk if you're searching in Chinese, or http://google.com/ncr (ncr stands for No Country Redirect) to search in English using the US interface.