How far is the horizon, how big is the world

Today, I want to share with you some of my experiences and my understanding of life.

The first is the story about choice.

Before I entered Beijing University, I liked computers very much. I believe that the future computers will definitely be widely used. However, simply learning computers is not as good as combining computers with a certain application. So I chose the information management department of Peking University. Not a computer department.

I have a sister who first went to Peking University in five years. She told me that Peking University students are very easy to go abroad. She told me that the world outside is very exciting. After I went to Peking University, I found that my intelligence major was not easy to go abroad, and the most advanced computer technology was in the United States. I was forced to start thinking about my next step and enrich my horizons by constantly participating in various activities. I went to learn a lot of computer science classes. I read a lot of American papers on information science, hoping to find my own opportunities in international academic journals. I participated in the school's May Fourth debate as the only science student at that time. I have listened to various lectures: Qigong, philosophy, and film. I participated in the choir and went to Tiananmen Square to dance the group dance during the National Day. I enjoyed all the opportunities that Peking University brought to me. I have come across a variety of people, each with their own ideas, everyone is different, everyone is wonderful. This made me gradually form a way of thinking that is not credulous and does not follow the trend. For the choice of my future life path, Peking University has given me the ability to think independently.

When I was reading a computer in the United States, I was originally a Ph.D., and I chose to give up. The reason is that I found that I hope that what I am doing can be used by many people, rather than studying a proposition that others have studied for 10 years.

In 1997, I left Wall Street, where I struggled for more than three years, and went to Infoseek, a well-known search engine company in Shibuya. In Shibuya, I saw how the most successful search technology company at that time was on the stock market, and saw how the large-scale industrial information system that supports tens of millions of traffic every day works. I also witnessed the worsening and miserable Infoseek. Operating. But most importantly, at Infoseek, I found my life's interest in the Internet search engine. At that time, it was the theory of information retrieval that Peking University learned. It made me understand more about the way users get used to information than any computer engineer. I realized that the search can make everyone's distance from the required information as far as the mouse clicks. This feeling is so wonderful. Since then, I have never left the search engine for more than 24 hours, not because I am a workaholic, but because I like it.

My biggest experience is to choose what I like to do. We need to make choices from our own heart. It is not that you think society expects you to do this. Parents expect you to do this. Friends expect you to do so. Only in this way, the more you work, the more happy you will be. When you encounter difficulties and encounter setbacks, you will not be defeated by depression, but you can enjoy the whole process wholeheartedly.

Second, it is about the awareness of concentration.

I have the two greatest lucks in my life. One is to find my wife, and the other is to do a job I like. But the only difference between a wife and a job is that there is only one wife, and the work is full of temptation all the time. Many people will focus on one wife, but many people will like to work on different jobs.

Before Baidu went public, Baidu only did one thing is Chinese search. In the early days of the venture, searching for Silicon Valley in the United States was not a hot concept. At that time, it was the portal, the e-commerce, and the wireless and online games that later became fire in China. When Baidu recruited the first batch of staff, I met one person. I especially hope that he can join. He is very good at technology. Unfortunately, he told me that if we don't do e-Commerce, he will not come. In 2001, a Baidu engineer found me and seriously said that he wanted to do online shopping. The result was rejected by me. He left Baidu for this. After Baidu went public, some old colleagues who have worked together for many years have left Baidu to try more business.

Many times, I feel that Baidu can always insist on doing searches because I have a religious belief in focusing on religion. It is hard for ordinary people to imagine how much temptation they face every day for a company with 200 million users. Baidu can do a hundred things. In the end, we only chose one, and we have been doing it for so many years, and we will continue to do it.

The things that people can accomplish in their lifetime are limited, and only concentration can make themselves good enough. Therefore, it is said: "If you do something, you can do something."

Third, it is the perception of vision.

Looking back at the road I have traveled, I will find that the vastness of this world is hard to imagine. Many of the difficulties that were felt at the time were very small. It seems that many things are very tricky at the time, and now it is just a topic after a meal.

When Baidu was established in 2000, it did not directly provide search services for netizens. We only exported search engine technology for the portal, and only the portal needed to search for services. In the summer of 2001, I made the decision to transform from a technology service provider behind a portal to an independent search engine with its own brand. This is the only transformation in Baidu's development process, which will offend almost all customers, so it was opposed by many investors. But when I turned my attention to a few years later, I had to stick to my point of view. As everyone knows, I convinced the investors later, so I got Baidu that everyone saw today.

Baidu has moved from the background to the front desk. Together with our dedication and efforts, we operate the largest website in the Eastern Hemisphere today.

In fact, from the first day of Baidu's creation, my dream was to "make people get the most convenient information." This ideal is not limited to Chinese, not limited to the Internet. As a student of the Department of Information Management at Peking University, I was fortunate to have understood the relationship and importance of information to human beings in the pre-Internet era. Therefore, from the first day, Baidu has a lofty ideal: We hope to seek the closest distance between people and information for all Chinese, Asians, and even human beings around the world.

So: How far is the horizon, how big the world is.