How the Chinese Wikipedia Differs from the English

bulled writes "News.com is running a story on differences found in Wikipedia's Chinese site content, as compared to content on the same subjects from the English site. The article goes into a discussion about how the 'sanitized' information is so prevalent in Chinese education that it is seen as the 'truth'." From the article: "[Some] say the object should be to spread reliable information as widely as possible, and that, in any case, self-censorship is pointless because the government still frequently blocks access to Wikipedia for most Chinese Internet users. 'There is a lot of confusion about whether they should obey the neutral point of view or offer some compromises to the government,' said Isaac Mao, a well-known Chinese blogger and user of the encyclopedia. 'To the local Wikipedians, the first objective is to make it well known among Chinese, to get people to understand the principles of Wikipedia step by step, and not to get the thing blocked by the government.'"

Comments

How it differs

[sporkme]

How does the Chinese Wikipedia differ from the English? Easy! One is in Chinese and the other is in English.

TFA:

Another person replied angrily: "If you want to release your emotions, use a bulletin board. Wikipedia is not your toilet."

Slashdot, perhaps?

While I appreciate the anecdotal insight, all I really needed to know is that we are talking about information exchange media under an oppressive government. Again, TFA:

Asked to explain what this meant, Zhang said, "Anyone who is Chinese knows."

How could there possibly be any free exchange, ever, in a culture where censorship in the media is a fact of life, just like fluoride in the water. It just IS --no matter how many "parallel" projects there are. This makes me sick.

I wonder what it feels like to be suckered

[troicstar]

down to ones cultural core by falsehoods, thats gotta hurt. Not that its going to happen quickly, they are only just getting the hang of parody over there. Damn thats like 100's of years old here.

Trying to appease the censors is pointless.

[JoshJ]

The best thing to do is open the floodgates of truth, let the government block it, and fight your way around the blocks. Don't give in to those who would take freedom away- ever.

This discredits wikipedia

[gnu-sucks]

To host content that in any way differs from the truth discredits wikipedia.

If the Chinese people want a wikipedia that won't get banned, they should make their own. It's a shame to see the wikipedia name get so discredited.

No information is better than false information.

Re:Hah. You think you are better?

[eldepeche]

Shut the fuck up. Insightful? Who the fuck got mod points this week? -1, Troll. At best.

You think China is bad?

[DiamondGeezer]

You think the Chinese government is bad for censorship? Just try criticizing Wikipedia on Slashdot and watch Marxism in action as the mod points are taken away.

In point of fact, it's Wikipedia that is more Marxist than the Chinese state. Try reading wikipediareview.com or antisocialmedia.net to see how NPOV Wikipedia really is.