For many youths in China, Kai-Fu Lee is a celebrity. Not at the level of the movie stars as Edison Chen or the vocalists of the ‘boysband’ F4, but for an IT engineer 49 year-old that almost always appears in a sober dark jacket, he can really gather a crowd.

When Lee, then head of operations for Google in China, gave a lecture in a Chinese University on as the Chinese youths should compete with the rest of the world, speculators sold tickets to 60 dollars each. In other, appeared 8000 people, in which students dispersed for the ground were attentive to each word.

It is not difficult to notice because Lee became a cult illustration for the youth Chinese hi-tech. He grew in Taiwan, studied in Columbia and Carnegie-Mellon and he is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Before joining Google, he worked for Apple in California and later for Microsoft in China; it established Microsoft Research Asia, the research laboratory and development of the company in Peking. In person, Lee transmits the optimism of a motivator and of an entrepreneur.

Kai-Fu Lee, executive that led the expansion of Google in China is leaving today the giant of the searches to open his own business. He will be devoted to set up a company in Peking.

Lee was hired by Google in 2004 and he supervised the development of services created to help the giant to penetrate at the Chinese market, that at the time was dominated by Baidu.

Via: Business Week.