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China Allows Access to English Wikipedia

Posted by Zonk on from the welcome-back-folks dept.

LinuxLefty writes "Reuters is reporting that Chinese authorities have lifted the ban on the English version of Wikipedia. The Chinese version of the site is still blocked, as are English-language versions of politically sensitive topics such as Tibet and Tiananmen Square. 'The move comes after International Olympic Committee (IOC) inspectors told Beijing organisers that the Internet must be open for the duration of the 2008 Olympics and that blocking it "would reflect very poorly" on the host country. China's government, keen to avoid sparking social discontent, keeps a tight watch over the media and often blocks or censors popular Web sites and forums where dissent may brew.'"

11 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. wikipedia? by benburned · · Score: 5, Funny

    citation needed ;)

  2. Boycott the Olympics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd be so happy if some protest group succeeds in stealing or putting out the torch. Giving the Chinese the Olympics is the worst awarding mistake since 1980.

    1. Re:Boycott the Olympics by KDR_11k · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh they look pretty capitalistic to me, that doesn't contradict the totalitarianism.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  3. Re:Information wants to be free! by kesuki · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Information wants to be free!"

    What everybody forgets to mention is that 'Information' is the nickname of a convicted felon, of course he wants to be free, he's in prison and he hates being locked up.

    --
    https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
  4. It's not happening. by gnutoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Westerners in the Olympic Village will see something very open and free but it's all a put on. The Atlantic had a good article about this not long ago. The great firewall of China is extensive and fine grained enough to block individual page views at random. It's enough to eliminate public discussion on many topics and it's enough to round up potential subversives. Information in China is not free because people in China are not free.

    1. Re:It's not happening. by coaxial · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Obligatory Karma Whoring: The Atlantic article.

      Not only is this a transparently empty gesture by the CPC, but I believe it has absolutely no downside for the CPC. It's English. The only people that are going to looking at it are foreigners and they're going to leave after two weeks. The indigenous population isn't going to bother, simply because they're much more focused on the simplified-chinese version. Also, don't discount how the population has been cowed into self censorship. No doubt thanks to Jingjing, Chacha, and the thousands of true believers. (There's ALWAYS true believers.)

      Honestly, I don't think the Chinese people want freedom and democracy. I think they're too busy making money and improving their lives. Don't rock the boat, we've got a good think going. Let it be. It's human nature. As Juvenal observed:

      Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man,
      the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time
      handed out military command, high civil office, legions - everything, now
      restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things:
      bread and circuses
  5. True story. by VShael · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I shared a hospital room with a Chinese kid once, about 10 years ago. He had got sick while travelling in Europe. It came up in conversation that he thought China was fantastic in every way, and when I asked him about the massacre at Tienamen Square, he said "What massacre?"
    That was the first time I really understood just how amazing the Chinese governments control of information is.

    1. Re:True story. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting
      when I asked him about the massacre at Tienamen Square, he said "What massacre?"

      Depending on who you believe, between 30 and 300 people died during the Tiananmen Square incident. About a million were killed during the Cultural Revolution. The "Great Leap Forward" killed more than 30 million. People in the West think Tiananmen was a big deal because they saw it on TV, but they are ignorant of earlier events that killed a million times as many people. This past summer, there were riots over land rights in several Chinese provinces that probably killed more people than died at Tiananmen. How many people in the West know (or care) about that? In the context of Chinese history, the Tiananmen Square incident was a blip.

  6. Re:China Olympics by LingNoi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    . The olympics is the one time every four years when athletes of all nations can come together. That serves more for global peace and understanding than petty quarreling, protests, and boycotts. Note, if there was serious shit going on I'll be the at the front of the protest line.
    "It doesn't separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That's why the Olympic Flame should never die." -Adolf Hitler
  7. Some feeling as a Chinese by electronixtar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, from a Chinese perspective of view like me, Chinese themself sometimes benifit from blocking. So, let's image the U.S. government oneday blocks some enemy website. What methods could you ever think of doing to bypass that? Now in China nearly everyone of experianced Internet users knows at least 3 ways of bypassing GFW, that's a good skill, I think. Yes, my government is not perfect, they are doing insant things, but it makes people to be critical & skillful. On contract, I heard that Germany government & media is lying & blocking the major Chinese website sina.com.cn during the Tibet riot, and some German even Convinced that shit. I guess they have no idea how to bypass a Content-filter system. Hmm, everything has two sides. Wise people always learn from that.

    1. Re:Some feeling as a Chinese by Kopiok · · Score: 5, Insightful

      While it may make internet users in China more skillful at getting around website blocks, it's not exactly a good thing that you need that skill in the first place. By creating the Great Firewall, they are blocking all inexperienced internet users from accessing this damning information. I assume in China that the vast majority of people are inexperienced internet users (same in the States too. :/). They are controlling the flow of this information to control the actions of their people, and it's causing more harm to Human Rights than it is helping computer literate Chinese to become inventive. You seem to have twisted this horrible violation of the freedom of peoples into a good thing by saying "at least some people know how to get around a firewall now!". Not exactly comparable subjects.