Google says it has stopped censoring its Chinese-language search engine.
The US company says it is redirecting mainland Chinese users to an uncensored site in Hong Kong, Google.com.hk.
The announcement follows unsuccessful talks with the Chinese government about operating an uncensored search engine in the country.
Google also says it plans to continue research and development work in China and maintain a sales presence there.
'The size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk,' Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a blog post.
Google's decision comes amid heightened tensions between China and the US over a range of issues including internet freedom and the exchange rate of China's currency, the yuan.
Google had flagged its intention to withdraw from China, the world's largest internet market by users, in January when it said it had detected a sophisticated cyber attack on its computers that it traced to China.
