Wikipedia unblocked

Wikipedia

For some time Wikipedia has been blocked in China - until today, that is. I have no idea why it suddenly works. I’m not even sure why, specifically, it was ever blocked in the first place. It has been off and on in the past two years, but I haven’t been able to access it for several months.

Jimmy Wales has been critical of Google and Microsoft for allowing what he termed censorship in their China operations. He stubbornly refused any such thing on Wikipedia, making this highly public about a month ago. That approach may have prolonged the wait for those of us hungry to eat up all that user generated knowledge, so it comes as a surprise to suddenly get access. Will it last? My guess is that it will.

Now, if only they’d unblock Technorati, things woudl really start to look up.

Ken Carroll

6 Responses to “Wikipedia unblocked”


  1. 1 Andrea Oct 11th, 2006 at 2:01 am

    Okay, it’s unblocked now, but can you access every topic on the Wikipedia website over there? I hope there will be a lot more Chinese translations of the English articles now.

  2. 2 Chris Oct 11th, 2006 at 1:06 pm

    It is a bit annoying that so many sites are blocked in China, though it is becoming fewer and fewer. However I assume you are using Firefox to browse the web. One of the greatest tools I’ve discovered to get around that little annoyance is an Open Source plugin called TOR. There is a Firefox plugin that works great. Basically it is your own little proxy. So you are surfing the web and run across a blocked site. Simply click the Tor button in Firefox and refresh the page, miraculously the site appears.

    Highly recommended. Though if you leave it always on it will slow down your surfing.

  3. 3 Oct 13th, 2006 at 12:53 am

    More details on the ‘unblock’

    http://www.editorandpublisher......1003251388

  4. 4 tai wai Oct 20th, 2006 at 4:09 am

    I have been using a the http://www.shysurfer.com/ anonymous site to access wikipedia and the bbc in China, this worked sporadically and was slow but if your are patient will get there in the end.

  5. 5 gweimui Nov 22nd, 2006 at 6:15 am

    just use a proxy site , and it will skip round all blocks.

  1. 1 Wikipedia Unblocked In China, Kinda… | Life In Suzhou China Blog | Adventures of the Humanaught Pingback on Oct 12th, 2006 at 2:21 pm

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Ken Carroll discusses issues concerning learning generally, and learning Mandarin in particular. With technology as the driver, he believes the most effective learning combines elements of collaboration with self-direction. If that seems like a contradiction, then you need to read the blog.

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