Wikipedia Unblocked in China for All Languages But Chinese
Update
It seems the Chinese version of Wikipedia is slowly getting unblocked. In Shanghai it loads without a problem for now.
Andrew Lih is keeping track of the areas in China where it has become available and the ones that still have no access.
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Wikipedia is accessible again in China. This is the third time the website has been unblocked. (read more on Wikipedia)
Only Chinese that can read English, French, Dutch, Japanese or whatever other language the content has been written in, will be able to use Wikipedia. If you want to read articles in Chinese you are in for a disappointment. A blank screen is the result.
One of the reasons that Wikipedia was blocked by the Chinese government is the political sensitivities of certain articles. Think Tian An Men and similar.
The alternative for Chinese internet users is Baidu Baike. Baidu, the leading search engine in China, started Baidu Baike, a Wikipedia-like Chinese language website, in April 2006. Baidu Baike is monitored for sensitive content. According to their copyright policy Baidu owns all user contributed content, which is something not very Wiki-like.
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Gemme van Hasselt is an Internet Marketing Consultant, living in Shanghai, China. His musings on life can be found on China Snippets
