Internet users on the Chinese-forums.com website report that the longtime block of Wikipedia by China has been at least temporarily lifted. Absent an announcement from the Chinese government, it's unclear what the conditions were that caused the site to be accessible from within China. A blog by Wikipedia contributor Andrew Lih says that someone in " Beijing emailed me saying he could suddenly start using Wikipedia again. Some folks in Hubei said it was still blocked. Shanghai and Guangdong users said parts were accessible." He continued that "from a Beijing China Netcom's residential DSL connection, the English language and other foreign language versions are now accessible, but the Chinese version is still blocked", noting that the Chinese-language version is the most important one to most Wikipedians in the country. Wikimedia head Jimmy Wales told Moneycontrol.com yesterday that, "We don't know what they took offense to. We really don't intend to compromise the way Google did. We also feel that the block is an error. I am trying to set up high-level meetings in China to state our case and explain why we should be unblocked. We have no idea what the result of that would be. But we are somewhat hopeful. Wikipedia is not a haven for dissidents but an encyclopedia. About 99.9 percent of Wikipedia has topics that are not of interest to the Chinese Government. There is no political component. We are hopeful that they can see the point." The third block of Wikipedia, which was implemented 19 October 2005, was issued without explanation or an expected length. Wikipedia has been blocked twice before, the first from 2-21 June 2004, due to the 15th anniversary of the Tian'anmen Square Incident . A website called baidu.com runs a self-censored wiki-based encyclopedia website, called baidubaike.com, launched in April of this year. Wikipedia is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organisation based out of St. Petersberg, Florida . Its 2007 annual convention, Wikimania , is set to take place in Taipei .
 users on the Chinese-forums.com website report that the longtime block of by China has been at least temporarily lifted. Absent an announcement from the Chinese government, it's unclear what the conditions were that caused the site to be accessible from within China. A blog by Wikipedia contributor Andrew Lih says that someone in " emailed me saying he could suddenly start using Wikipedia again. Some folks in said it was still blocked. and users said parts were accessible." He continued that "from a Beijing China Netcom's residential connection, the English language and other foreign language versions are now accessible, but the Chinese version is still blocked", noting that the Chinese-language version is the most important one to most Wikipedians in the country. Wikimedia head told yesterday that, "We don't know what they took offense to. We really don't intend to compromise the way Google did. We also feel that the block is an error. I am trying to set up high-level meetings in China to state our case and explain why we should be unblocked. We have no idea what the result of that would be. But we are somewhat hopeful. Wikipedia is not a haven for dissidents but an encyclopedia. About 99.9 percent of Wikipedia has topics that are not of interest to the Chinese Government. There is no political component. We are hopeful that they can see the point." The third block of Wikipedia, which was implemented 19 October 2005, was issued without explanation or an expected length. Wikipedia has been blocked twice before, the first from 2-21 June 2004, due to the 15th anniversary of the . A website called runs a self-censored wiki-based encyclopedia website, called baidubaike.com, launched in April of this year. Wikipedia is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, a organisation based out of , . Its 2007 annual convention, , is set to take place in .
D
Internet
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Wikipedia
D
Beijing
D
Hubei
R
Shanghai and Guangdong
and
D
DSL
R
Jimmy Wales told Moneycontrol.com
told
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Tian'anmen Square Incident
D
baidu.com
D
non-profit
R
St. Petersberg, Florida
,
D
Wikimania
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Taipei