Former Google China head Lee Kai-fu sows seeds of change

It's afternoon, but technology entrepreneur Lee Kai-fu, has already had a busy day online. He's written 15 updates for his microblog, offering his views on a range of issues to his 50 million followers.

"You can see the first one was put up at 6am, and every hour there was an update," says the 51-year-old former head of Google China, who has emerged as one of the mainland's most influential social critics. "I sleep at 10pm. I don't drink, and I don't know any [government] officials in intimate ways."

That Lee tried - in vain, I should add - to obtain some gossip about the at our meeting shows the brisk openness and inquisitiveness which has made the Taiwanese-born, US-educated Lee a breath of fresh air for mainland internet users, who are blocked from much of the web.

The same qualities may also have led to him being banned from Sina Weibo for three days in February, after he posted several pointed questions on his microblog about Jike, a search engine unit of the Communist Party mouthpiece, the , and its chief executive, Deng Yaping.

The ban only added to his popularity, though some of his Weibo followers came to fear for his safety and suggested that he should start pulling his punches.

"But I don't really think I punch," he said. "I'm pretty moderate and reasonably constructive. I think Weibo and the Chinese social media in general need more people who tell it like it is."

"On my Weibo, I speak my mind on what's happening in society, and when bad things are happening, I want to speak up and make sure people are aware of them," Lee says. "Outrageous, inaccurate statements made by other people will lead me to want to continue the course even more."