The Chinese Wikipedia logo

The Chinese Wikipedia is the Chinese language edition of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Started in October 2002, the Chinese Wikipedia has, as of December 2006, over 103,000 articles. Currently, it is blocked by the Chinese government together with all the other wikipedia in other languages. It has 86 moderators, including 29 from mainland China, 16 from Taiwan, and 14 from Hong Kong. Image File history File links Description: Logo of the Chinese Wikipedia Source: originally uploaded to Meta, creaded by Author Date: Author: Nohat and Shizhao Permission: Other versions of this file: see Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Chinese Wikipedia ... Image File history File links Description: Logo of the Chinese Wikipedia Source: originally uploaded to Meta, creaded by Author Date: Author: Nohat and Shizhao Permission: Other versions of this file: see Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Chinese Wikipedia ... Chinese (written) language (pinyin: zhōngw n) written in Chinese characters The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文; Pinyin: H nyǔ, Hu yǔ, or Zhōngw n) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia project. ... Meta has a page about this at: Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. ... Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... The blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China is a series of denials of access, which the Peoples Republic of Chinas government and internet service providers (ISPs) located in mainland China have imposed to prevent access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia sites. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC...

History

The Chinese Wikipedia was established along with 12 other Wikipedias in May 2001. At the beginning, however, the Chinese Wikipedia did not support Chinese characters, and had no encyclopedic content.

It was in October 2002 that the user 'Ghyll' (now zh:User:Mountain) wrote the first Chinese-language page, the Main Page. Mountain is also the first registered user of the Chinese Wikipedia. A software update on October 27, 2002 allowed Chinese language input. The domain was set to be zh.wikipedia.org. On November 17, 2002, Mountain translated the Computer science article into zh:计算机科学, thus creating the first real encyclopedic article. October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ...

In its early days, most articles on the Chinese Wikipedia were translated from the English version. The first five sysops: zh:User:Samuel, zh:User:Menchi, zh:User:Lorenzarius, zh:User:Formulax, and zh:User:Shizhao, were promoted on June 14, 2003. Since then, Shizhao in particular has performed many maintenance tasks, and was also instrumental in removing the first blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China in June 2004. June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China is a series of denials of access, which the Peoples Republic of Chinas government and internet service providers (ISPs) located in mainland China have imposed to prevent access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia sites. ...

Wikipedia was first introduced by mainland China media in the newspaper China Computer Education (中国电脑教育报) on October 20, 2003, in the article, "I, too, shall write an encyclopedia" (我也来写百科全书). On May 16, 2004, Wikipedia was first reported by Taiwanese media in the newspaper China Times. Since then, many newspapers have published articles about Wikipedia, and several sysops have been interviewed by journalists. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 72 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The China Times (Chinese: 中國時報; pinyin: zhōng guó shí bào) is a newspaper published in the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Traditional Chinese. ...

Origin of the Name

The Chinese name of Wikipedia is shown on the main page.

The Chinese name of Wikipedia was decided on October 21, 2003, following a vote. The name (Traditional Chinese: 維基百科; Simplified Chinese: 维基百科 "wéi jī bǎi kē") means "Wiki Encyclopedia". The Chinese transcription of "Wiki" is composed of two characters: 維/维, whose ancient sense refers to ropes or webs connecting objects, and alludes to the Internet; and 基, meaning the foundations of a building, or fundamental aspects of things in general. Therefore the name can be interpreted as the encyclopedia that connects the fundamental knowledge of humanity. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1003x661, 598 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Chinese Wikipedia ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1003x661, 598 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Chinese Wikipedia ... October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 71 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiǎntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiǎnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ...

The most common Chinese translation for wiki technology, however, is not 維基 / 维基; but tends to be 維客 / 维客 or 圍紀 / 围纪, which are also transcriptions of the word "wiki". As a result, the term 維基 / 维基 has become associated exclusively with Wikimedia projects. [1] For other uses, see Wiki (disambiguation). ...

The Chinese Wikipedia also has a subtitle: 海納百川，有容乃大 / 海纳百川，有容乃大. It means, "The sea encompasses a hundred rivers; it has capacity [i.e. is willing to accept all] and is thus great." The subtitle is the first half of a couplet composed by Qing Dynasty official Lin Zexu. The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire... Lin Zexu Lin Zexu (Chinese: ; pinyin: Lín Zéxú) (August 30, 1785 - November 22, 1850) was a Chinese scholar and official during the Qing dynasty. ...

Community

The Chinese Wikipedia encompasses participants from a variety of backgrounds. According to statistics from March 2005, 46% of users connect from mainland China, 22% from North America, 12% from Taiwan, 9% from Hong Kong, 3% from Japan, 3% from Europe, 2% from Southeast Asia, and 3% from other regions. Just as the English Wikipedia tends to be more detailed in western-related topics, the Chinese Wikipedia has very detailed descriptions of China-related topics. Within that region, the Chinese Wikipedia tends to be more detailed in topics about Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the wealthy east coast provinces of mainland China, reflecting the economic disparity in that part of the world. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Logo of Wikipedia The English Wikipedia is the English language edition of the Wikipedia encyclopedia. ... The term Western World or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...

Also due to the geographical origin of its participants, the most discussed and debated topics on the Chinese Wikipedia are those related to Taiwanese independence, Falun Gong, the Tiananmen Protests of 1989, and so forth; the five most edited articles, as of July 2006, are Mao Zedong, China, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and Chiang Kai-shek, in that order. In contrast, issues such as the Israel-Palestinian conflict are much less contentious. Taiwan independence (台灣獨立, pinyin: Táiwān dúlì, Taiwanese Church Romanization: Tâi-oân To̍k-li̍p; abbreviated to 台獨, Táidú, Tâi-to̍k) is a political movement whose goal is — depending on ones interpretation... Falun Gong, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Practice of the Wheel of Law) also known as Falun Dafa, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ; lit. ... The Unknown Rebel — This famous photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener, depicts a lone protester who single-handedly halted the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour. ... Mao redirects here. ... Today the country officially known as the Republic of China (ROC) is commonly known by the international community as Taiwan and occasionally as Chinese Taipei. It should not be confused with the other country officially known as the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), which is commonly known as China. ... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the 1925 death of Sun Yat-sen. ... Israel and the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ...

In order to avoid systemic bias, one of the cornerstones of the Chinese Wikipedia (along with neutral point-of-view) is avoiding sinocentrism. Editors are advised to avoid writing from the point-of-view of China or any other country/region; to avoid using terms such as 我国/我國 ("our country"; referring to the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China, depending on viewpoint), 本港 ("this port"; referring to Hong Kong), or 本澳 ("this Macao", referring to Macao); and instead, to refer to locations in the Chinese-speaking sphere or periods in Chinese history by explicitly stating China (e.g. "Yunnan province, China", instead of just "Yunnan province".) This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Wikipedia policy is that all articles should be written from a neutral point of view: without bias, representing all views fairly. ... The Sinocentric World: The area of usage of Chinese characters at its maximum extent (to a considerable extent following the borders of the Qing dynasty). ... Today the country officially known as the Republic of China (ROC) is commonly known by the international community as Taiwan and occasionally as Chinese Taipei. It should not be confused with the other country officially known as the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), which is commonly known as China. ... China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally south of the clouds) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the far southwestern corner of the country. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally south of the clouds) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the far southwestern corner of the country. ...

Sysops

At the end of 2006, there are 86 sysops on the Chinese Wikipedia.

Within the Chinese-speaking world, there are 29 sysops from Mainland China, 16 from Taiwan, 14 from Hong Kong, 3 from Macau, and none from Singapore; outside the Chinese-speaking world, there are 9 in the United States, 5 in Canada, 3 in Macau, 3 in the United Kingdom, 1 in Australia, 1 in France, 1 in Germany, 1 in Japan, 1 in South Korea, and 2 unspecified. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC...

Within mainland China, there are 6 sysops in Beijing, the capital, 6 in Shanghai, 6 in Guangdong province, 1 in Hunan province, 3 in Jiangsu province, 1 in Shanxi province, 1 in Shandong province, 1 in Zhejiang province, 1 in Heilongjiang province, 1 in Hubei province, and 2 elsewhere.^[1] Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin:  ; Shanghainese: ), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China and the eighth largest in the world. ... Guangdong, often spelt as Kwangtung, is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: Húnán) is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning south of the lake). Hunan is sometimes called 湘 (pinyin: Xiāng) for short, after the Xiang River which runs through the... Jiangsu (Simplified Chinese: 江苏; Traditional Chinese: 江蘇; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chiang-su; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. ... Shanxi (Chinese: 山西; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Shansi) is a province in the northern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Shāndōng; Wade-Giles: Shan-tung) is a coastal province of eastern Peoples Republic of China. ... Zhejiang (also spelled Chehkiang or Chekiang) is an eastern coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Heilongjiang (Simplified Chinese: 黑龙江省; Traditional Chinese: 黑龍江省; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Postal System Pinyin: Heilungkiang) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. ... Hubei (Chinese: 湖北; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hu-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hupeh) is a central province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Due to the continued block of Chinese Wikipedia within mainland China, sysops and other Wikipedians have had to log on to Wikipedia through proxy servers or other unconventional means.

Meetups

One month after the Chinese government unblocked the wikipedia for the first time,, the first Chinese Wikipedian meeting was held in Beijing on July 25, 2004. Since then, Chinese Wikipedians from different regions have held many gatherings in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In particular, a semi-regular meetup has been held in Taipei every one to three weeks since April 2006. In July 2006, Taiwanese Wikipedians also held a "travelling meetup", travelling by train through four Taiwanese cities over a period of two days. In August 2006, Hong Kong hosted the first annual Chinese Wikimedia Conference. Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin:  ; Shanghainese: ), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China and the eighth largest in the world. ... Guangdong, often spelt as Kwangtung, is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Nickname: the City of Azaleas Government Official Website City of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou Capital District Xinyi Geographical characteristics Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 16 of 25 271. ...

Moderators in several Chinese cities continue to advertise for meetings on Wikipedia, and have met in person, despite the continued block on Wikipedia in mainland China. So far, there have been no reports no surveillance or harassment from the police or others.

Automatic conversion between Traditional and Simplified Chinese

Original situation

At the beginning there were virtually two Chinese Wikipedias under the names of "zh-cn" and "zh-tw". Generally, users from regions that used Traditional Chinese (such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau) wrote and edited articles using Traditional Chinese characters while those from regions that used Simplified Chinese (such as mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia) wrote using Simplified Chinese characters. Many articles had two uncoordinated versions; for example, there was both a Traditional (法國) and Simplified (法国) article on France. Further exacerbating the problem, due to the lack of communication and separate systems, many proper names are quite different in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. For instance, a computer printer is called 打印机 in mainland China, but 印表機 in Taiwan. Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiǎntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiǎnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

Solution

To avoid this near-forking of the project, starting around January 2005, the Chinese Wikipedia began providing a server-side mechanism to automatically convert different characters and proper names into the user's local ones, according to the user's preference settings, which may be set to one of four regional variants: In software engineering, a project fork or branch happens when a developer (or a group of them) takes a copy of source code from one software package and starts to independently develop a new package. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

• zh-cn (mainland China)
• zh-hk (Hong Kong and Macao)
• zh-sg (Singapore)
• zh-tw (Taiwan)

Conversion is done through a set of character conversion tables that may be edited by administrators. Through special wiki markup syntax, editors may override the conversion tables for specific sections of text within articles. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC...

Furthermore, page title conversion is used for automatic page redirection. Those articles previously named in different characters or different translations have been merged, and can be reached by means of both Traditional and Simplified Chinese titles.

Wikipedias in other varieties of Chinese

The Chinese Wikipedia is based on Vernacular Chinese, a register of written Chinese that is official in all Chinese-speaking regions, including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. This register is largely associated in grammar and vocabulary with Standard Mandarin, the official spoken language of mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore (but not exclusively of Hong Kong and Macau, which largely use Standard Cantonese). Vernacular Chinese (pinyin: báihuà; Wade-Giles: paihua) is a style or register of the written Chinese language essentially modeled after the spoken language and associated with Standard Mandarin. ... Standard Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Singapore. ... Standard Cantonese is a variant, and is generally considered the prestige dialect of Cantonese Chinese. ...

The Chinese / Sinitic languages are a diverse group encompassing many regional varieties, some of which are mutually unintelligible and often referred to as separate languages, such as Wu, Minnan (of which Taiwanese is a notable dialect), and Cantonese. After the founding of Wikipedia, many users of these Chinese tongues began to ask for the right to have Wikipedia editions in these tongues as well. However, they also met with significant opposition, whose main justification was that no form of written Chinese except Mandarin-based Vernacular Chinese is ever used in scholarly or academic contexts. In regions that speak non-Mandarin tongues or regional Mandarin dialects, the written language differs sharply from the spoken language in vocabulary and grammar, and is often read in local pronunciation while preserving the vocabulary and grammar of standard Mandarin. Some also proposed the implementation of an automatic conversion program similar to that between Simplified and Traditional Chinese; however, other pointed out that while conversion between Simplified and Traditional Chinese consists mainly of glyph and sometimes vocabulary substitutions, different regional varieties of Chinese differ so sharply in grammar, syntax, and semantics that it is unrealistic to implement an automatic conversion program. Chinese (written) language (pinyin: zhōngw n) written in Chinese characters The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文; Pinyin: H nyǔ, Hu yǔ, or Zhōngw n) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... Wu (吳方言 pinyin wú fāng yán; 吳語 pinyin wú yǔ) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. ... Mǐn Nán (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name Bân-lâm-gú; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... See alternative meanings for other possible definitions. ... This article is on all of the Yue dialects. ...

These objections notwithstanding, it was eventually determined that these Chinese tongues were sufficiently different from Standard Mandarin and had sufficiently many contributors interested in their creation. Four regional Chinese tongues now have their own Wikipedias:

• Wu Wikipedia, which uses the Shanghai dialect as its standard;
• Cantonese Wikipedia, which uses Standard Cantonese (i.e. the Guangzhou / Hong Kong dialect) as its standard;
• Minnan Wikipedia, which uses Taiwanese as its standard;
• Mindong Wikipedia, whic uses the Fuzhou dialect as its standard.

Finally, requests were also made, and granted, to create a Classical Chinese Wikipedia, based on Classical Chinese, an archaic register of Chinese with grammar and vocabulary drawn from classical works, and used in all official contexts until the early 20th century. Shanghainese (上海話; pinyin: Shànghǎihuà, Shanghainese in SAMPA: [ zA~ hE hE wo ]) is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. ... Standard Cantonese is a variant, and is generally considered the prestige dialect of Cantonese Chinese. ... Taiwanese (pe̍h-oÄ“-jÄ«: Tâi-oân-oÄ“ or Tâi-gí; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: TáiyÇ”, Táiwānhuà) is a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken by about 70% of Taiwans population. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of very old forms of Chinese , making it very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ...

All of the above Wikipedias have sidesteped the Traditional / Simplified Chinese issue. The Wu Wikipedia uses Simplified Chinese exclusively, while the Cantonese and Classical Chinese Chinese Wikipedias use Traditional Chinese. The Minnan and Mindong Wikipedias use the Roman alphabet, thus avoiding the issue completely.

Blocking of Wikipedia

Main article: Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China

Internet has been partially censored in mainland China almost as early Internet got connected to China. Recently, China has spent about 8 billion US dollars on the Golden Shield Project to improve the censorship ability. The People's Republic of China and its internet service providers have adopted a practice of blocking contentious Internet sites in mainland China, and Wikimedia sites have been blocked at least three times in its history. The first block lasted between June 2 and June 21, 2004. It began when access to the Chinese Wikipedia from Beijing was blocked on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China is a series of denials of access, which the Peoples Republic of Chinas government and internet service providers (ISPs) located in mainland China have imposed to prevent access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia sites. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC... The Golden Shield Project (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is owned by Ministry of Public Security of the Peoples Republic of China(MPS). ... An Internet service provider (abbr. ... The National Peoples Congress of the Peoples Republic of China has passed an Internet censorship law in mainland China[1]. In accordance with this law, several regulations were made by the PRC government, and a censorship system is implemented variously by provincial branches of state-owned ISPs, business... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC... June 2 is the 153rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (154th in leap years), with 212 days remaining. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: Běijīng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The Unknown Rebel - This famous photo, taken by photographer Jeff Widener, depicts a lone protester whose actions halted a column of advancing tanks until he was pulled into the crowd. ...

On May 31 an article from the IDG News Service was published [2], discussing the Chinese Wikipedia's treatment of the protests. The Chinese Wikipedia also has articles related to Taiwanese independence, written by contributors from Taiwan and elsewhere. A few days after the initial block of Chinese Wikipedia, all Wikimedia sites were blocked in Mainland China. In response to the blocks, two moderators prepared an appeal to lift the block and asked their regional internet service provider to submit it. All Wikimedia sites were unblocked between June 17 and June 21, 2004. One month later, the first Chinese Wikipedian moderators' meeting was held in the capital city - Beijing on July 25, 2004. May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining. ... Taiwan independence (台灣獨立, pinyin: Táiwān dúlì, Taiwanese Church Romanization: Tâi-oân To̍k-li̍p; abbreviated to 台獨, Táidú, Tâi-to̍k) is a political movement whose goal is — depending on ones interpretation... The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. ... An Internet service provider (abbr. ... June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The first block had an effect on the vitality of Chinese Wikipedia, which suffered sharp dips in various indicators such as the number of new users, the number of new articles, and the number of edits. In some cases, it took anywhere from 6 to 12 months in order to regain the stats from May 2004. On the other hand, on today's site, some of the articles are put into protection which may last more than a month or more without any actions.

The second and less serious outage lasted between September 23 and September 27, 2004. During this 4-day period, access to Wikipedia was erratic or unavailable to some users in mainland China — this block was not comprehensive and some users in mainland China were never affected. The exact reason for the block is a mystery. Chinese Wikipedians once again prepared a written appeal to regional ISPs, but the block was lifted before the appeal was actually sent. The reason is unknown. September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). ... September 27 is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The third block began on October 19, 2005, and there is no indication as to whether this block is temporary or permanent, or what the reasons or causes for this block are. According to the status page currently maintained on the Chinese Wikipedia, the Florida and Korea servers are blocked, while the Paris and Amsterdam servers are not. Dozens of editors from across Mainland China have reported that they can only access Wikipedia using proxy servers, although there are isolated reports that some users can access Wikipedia without using proxy. Most of the Chinese people were not able to connect to this site at all. October 19 is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Korea (Korean: 한국 or ì¡°ì„ , see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ... Look up server in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region ÃŽle-de-France Department Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area¹ 86. ... Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 741,329 (1 August 2006) Demonym Amsterdammer Coordinates Website www. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The Chinese Massive Landmass or Continental China) is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC...

During October and November of 2006, it first appeared that the this site was unblocked again. Many conflicting reports came from news outlets, bloggers, and Wikipedians, reported a possible partial or full unblocking of Wikipedia. Some reports indicated a complete unblock; others suggested that some sensitive topics remained blocked, and yet other suggested that the Chinese Wikipedia was blocked while other language versions were not. From November 17 onwards, the complete block was once again in place. It is still unknown when the next unblock will be.

An attempt to appeal to the government was made in October 2005, but was met with no response. Since then, no more plans for appeals have been made.

Self-censorship allegations

In December 2006, the International Herald Tribune Asia-Pacific published an article that sensitive topics get gentle treatment on Chinese Wikipedia. The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. ...

^[2]

On December 1, 2006, The New York Times published another report by Howard W. French, titled as "Wikipedia lays bare two versions of China's past." The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

The report was subsequently repeated by CBS ^[3] and by Chinese-language media outlets such as the Apple Daily in Taiwan.

Since then Chinese Wikipedians have tried to clarify the situation. One Chinese Wikipedian sent a comment which was subsequently published in the online edition of the Apple Daily Taiwan. The comment stated that:

^[4]

In another email addressed to the Wikimedia Foundation mailing list, a Chinese Wikipedian stated:

^[5]

Previous proposals to self-censor the Chinese Wikipedia in light of the Chinese government's censorship policies have indeed been made before, but were overwhelmingly rejected by the community.

Competitors

On April 20, 2006, the online Chinese search engine company Baidu created Baidu Baike, an online encyclopedia that registered users can edit, pending administrator reviews. The content of the encyclopedia is self-censored in accordance with the regulations of the Chinese government. Within weeks, the number of articles in Baidu Baike had surpassed that of the Chinese Wikipedia. April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... For the Ilkhanate ruler, see Baydu. ... Baidu Baike (Chinese: 百度百科; Pinyin: bǎidù bǎikē) is a Chinese collaborative online encyclopedia hosted by the major Chinese search engine Baidu. ...

References

1. ^ List of Moderators
2. ^ Chinese-language Wikipedia presents different view of history
3. ^ *Is Wikipedia China Really Wikipedia?
4. ^ [http://www.wretch.cc/blog/portnoy1211&article_id=7351574 大家都誤解了維基百科
5. ^ Foundation-l heavily biased BS (Fwd: Wikizh-l Chinese-language Wikipedia presents different view of history)

See also

• Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China
• Internet censorship in mainland China
• Golden Shield Project
• Politics of China
• Comprehensive technical information about automatic conversion on the Chinese Wikipedia between Simplified and Traditional Chinese

The blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China is a series of denials of access, which the Peoples Republic of Chinas government and internet service providers (ISPs) located in mainland China have imposed to prevent access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia sites. ... The National Peoples Congress of the Peoples Republic of China has passed an Internet censorship law in mainland China[1]. In accordance with this law, several regulations were made by the PRC government, and a censorship system is implemented variously by provincial branches of state-owned ISPs, business... The Golden Shield Project (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is owned by Ministry of Public Security of the Peoples Republic of China(MPS). ... State power within the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is divided among three bodies: the Party, the State, and the Army. ...

External links

• Chinese Wikipedia
• Baidu - the Chinese Wikipedia
• Chinese Wikimedia Conference 2006