The war over Chinese Wikipedia has been raging for years, with different forces vying to gain control of the language’s most notable online encyclopaedia. However, in 2021, the power struggle between the Chinese government and the online encyclopaedia’s user base has reached an all-time high. We will look at the history of the battle, the two sides involved, and the implications of the conflict.
The war over Chinese Wikipedia
Chinese Wikipedia (众所周知词典) is the Chinese-language version of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia. Created in October 2002, it has over 290,000 articles. Registered users from mainland China and Taiwan mainly provide the content. Though Chinese Wikipedia participates in the same international projects as other language versions of Wikipedia, mainland China’s political and cultural context has caused the development of Chinese Wikipedia to differ significantly from its counterparts within other languages.
One major difference is that Chinese Wikipedia has adopted two distinct policies to manage its articles — adhering to Mainland China’s official Propaganda Policies while at the same time attempting to apply the Global Principles outlined by founder Jimmy Wales. On one hand, content must be in line with Mainland China’s laws and regulatory bodies; on the other hand, article accuracy must be independently verifiable or cross-checked with verifiable information sources. This has caused some friction within the community as members try to balance their ideals for free expression with compliance under legal constraints.
History of Chinese Wikipedia
Chinese Wikipedia is part of the world’s largest encyclopaedia and has been around since 2002. This project was started to provide free content to Chinese language speakers. It was partly created by the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that supports the development of educational projects, including Wikipedia.
The Chinese version of Wikipedia was founded shortly after the creation of websites such as Baidu, Sohu and Sina, which offered their search engines for internet users in China. However, unlike other search engines, Chinese Wikipedia did not rely on advertising but on volunteer input from members. This ensured that all content produced on the site was neutral and unbiased.
At first, Chinese Wikipedia struggled to gain traction as it faced restrictions from Chinese censors, who saw it as a threat to their control over information that could potentially cause social unrest. However, in 2006, the website began to gain more acceptance among internet users in China, resulting in its user base increasing rapidly over time.
Today, the site attracts millions of visitors every day. It is one of the most popular websites in China despite a recent decrease in traffic following moves by authorities designed to further limit content available on-line. However, while this decrease can be partially attributed to increasing censorship in recent years it has also been blamed on unresolved conflicts over how certain topics are addressed on the site leading to a lack of consensus between various factions vying for control of contents within its pages.
The Conflict
The battle for control of Chinese Wikipedia, also known as “The War Over Chinese Wikipedia”, has been raging for years. Chinese Wikipedia is the Chinese version of the online encyclopaedia, featuring articles written in simplified Chinese.
Ever since Chinese Wikipedia was founded in 2002, there have been multiple attempts to control or censor its content in different ways. This has led to a contentious conflict between various political factions in China, with both sides trying to use the platform to their advantage. Let’s look at the history of this struggle and the various attempts to control the content on Chinese Wikipedia.
The Main Players in the Conflict
The Battle for Control of Chinese Wikipedia is a struggle between opposing ideologies, defined by their approaches to editing and language usage and their outlook on political and social issues. This conflict has been raging since the foundation of the Chinese Wikipedia in 2002.
At the centre of this battle are two groups: the “Mainlanders” (those who use traditional Chinese characters) and the “Taiwanese” (those who use simplified Chinese characters). Both groups have their own separate Wikipedia domains, chinese.wikipedia.org and zh.wikipedia.org respectively, on which they operate independently.
The Mainlanders typically support single-party rule in China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, while also promoting traditional culture and language usage in articles on all topics, especially those related to politics or culture.. They are also highly critical towards Taiwan’s independence movement and demand that all Wiki entries related to it be completely neutral or include the party’s statement about it when appropriate.
On the other hand, the Taiwanese champion democracy for both mainland China and Taiwan, along with improved human rights with full freedom of expression . They prefer simplified Chinese characters to make reading material easier for people from both sides of cultural backgrounds.. Also they tend toward a more aggressive approach when debating controversial topics such as human rights abuses or Taiwan independence and express negative views openly against mainland China when discussing these issues online or deleting Wiki entries that do not fit with their ideology..
From time to time there are minor clashes between these two groups when members from either side disagree over an issue or opinion expressed online via articles posted on either domain. Unfortunately, these disagreements often end up settling into a stalemate that no amount of factual argument can resolve— leaving a troublesome state of tension between these two ideological camps that persists until one group decides to back down due to public pressure or exhaustion from arguing..
The Reasons for the Conflict
The battle for control over Chinese Wikipedia began in 2005 when pro-Beijing editors started editing pages to remove content that was critical of the Chinese government. This sparked a conflict between supporters of Chinese Wikipedia’s mission, who wanted its content to reflect the truth, and defenders of Beijing’s official views, who sought to control what was being presented.
This conflict grew in intensity as the two sides vied for dominance and issued injunctions to community members whose viewpoints they disagreed with. Finally, in 2007, a faction of pro-Beijing editors formed their version of Chinese Wikipedia (called “Noticepedia”) to take control away from the original version. The resulting struggle involved intense debate, heated rhetoric, and efforts by each side to gain an advantage through soliciting high-profile endorsements or filing lawsuits.
Ultimately, the dispute ended in 2008 with a compromise that allowed both sides to be involved in decision making and editing on Chinese Wikipedia going forward. However, as both sides maintained their identities within the greater community, tension remains between them today — although it is much less visible than it once was.
The Consequences of the Conflict
The battle for control of the Chinese Wikipedia has significant implications for Chinese internet users and those in other countries who rely on this information resource. For example, Chinese internet users could not access some topics related to Chinese politics and society, such as the Falun Gong movement, due to censoring from the Communist Party. This has resulted in a situation where many events and artefacts of modern Chinese history have been omitted from Wikipedia’s coverage, leaving an incomplete account of certain aspects of the country’s recent past.
In addition, knowing that their edits could be subject to censorship or reversion has caused some people in other parts of the world—for example journalists or historians—to be cautious when researching or sourcing materials related to contemporary China. This has stifled debate around several issues related to modern China, including human rights abuses, environmental degradation and a range of political developments that are not adequately addressed elsewhere due to limited international media attention.
The Battle
Chinese Wikipedia is a disputed site between two separate languages, the simplified Chinese used by mainland Chinese users and traditional Chinese used by the Taiwanese and Hong Kongers. This disagreement has led to a long and heated battle for control of the website. This article will delve into the war between the two language sides and the outcomes for both.
The Tactics Employed by the Main Players
The battle for control of Chinese Wikipedia has been a long one. Since its launch in September 2001, it has been mired with disputes over content, guidelines, and other policies. The main players in this “battle” have been the pro- Mainland China group, which favours strict regulation and censorship, and the pro-Taiwan group, which favours implementing open access knowledge systems. Over the years, each group has resorted to different strategies to gain power over Chinese Wikipedia.
The pro-Mainland China group has taken a more top-down approach by developing an organisational structure that favours their ideology of heavily regulating content and removing opposing viewpoints. This involves giving certain members privileged editing rights to delete or modify articles as necessary to fit the narrative and ideology favoured by the Mainland Chinese government. Along with this tactic, the pro-Mainland China faction will sometimes use intimidation tactics such as voicing political or other threats against those who oppose their stance.
Meanwhile, the pro-Taiwan faction heavily relies on grassroots tactics such as organising campaigns to raise awareness about censorship issues on Chinese Wikipedia and mobilising public support for open access knowledge systems. They also actively add new content onto Chinese Wikipedia representing different points of view other than those popularised by mainstream media from Mainland China to provide a more balanced perspective on many issues discussed within the encyclopaedia entries.
The Outcome of the Battle
The battle for control of Chinese Wikipedia ended with a strong victory by the supporters of free speech and the liberal democratic values embodied in Wikipedia’s founding principles. Despite the authorities’ efforts, volunteer editors successfully held off attempts to censor or otherwise alter content on Chinese Wikipedia.
As a result, Wikipedia remains one of the few online sources providing unrestricted access to information about Chinese culture, politics and society. Though editors are still subject to censorship, edits that run afoul of political sensitivities (such as those related to Tibet or Taiwan) remain relatively safe. However, in recent months, authorities have reportedly taken steps to also target discussion pages related to contentious topics like Falun Gong and Tibet.
Despite these ongoing challenges, the success of Chinese Wikipedians in preserving their editorial freedom serves as a powerful example for similar groups worldwide – illustrating how open source technologies can be used for good even in oppressive regimes where freedom of expression is often denied.
Conclusion
The battle for control of Chinese Wikipedia has been long and intense and has shown no signs of waning even today. In the end, it seems that no one faction has won the battle, with various groups making up the largest share of readers, editors, and administrators. Yet, through it all, some semblance of a democratic spirit has emerged. The Wikipedia community has worked to create a space where different interpretations of the Chinese language and culture could coexist peacefully.
Summary of the Conflict
Since the Chinese-language Wikipedia was founded in 2002, it has experienced much internal conflict due to tensions between various stakeholders, including users and administrators. The disputes surrounding the control of the site have ranged in nature, but usually revolve around a disparity in expectations regarding administrative authority, content censorship, and user rights among different stakeholders. In general, user reactions largely opposed site admins’ claims of neutrality when performing censorship tasks or making rulings related to user conduct;. In contrast, admins stressed their positions of impartiality and their adherence to the community’s established rules when resolving disputes or pushing forward Wikiprojects that may go against some users’ interest. In response to these pressures from both sides, Wikipedia workers continued to adjust and redefine policies to accommodate local conditions and practise a greater level of self-governance.
Given this persistent tug-of-war between multiple parties with conflicting interests, Chinese Wikipedia has survived despite immense difficulties for many years. While free speech is often still limited due to censorship and administrators’ heavy handedness, its ability to remain open yet guided by top administrators has generated much positive appraisal from users who praised its efficient wording-out of conflicts onsite while also advocating critical dialogues among offline Wikimedia participants. With such actions behind its curtains (i.e., editors’ hidden involvement in delicate discussions aimed at exercising self-regulatory measures), Chinese Wikipedia today stands as a living example of how dispute resolution can be achieved through diplomacy rather than tugging-wars between stakeholders.
The Impact of the Conflict on Chinese Wikipedia
The conflict between the Chinese Wikipedia editors and the Chinese authorities has considerably impacted the content, activity and reputation of Chinese Wikipedia. Since 2018, there has been a steady decline in page edits, with only a few hundred pages being produced per day – down from its peak of about 1,500-2,000 pages. This shows that fears of reprisal and censorship have stifled the potential for constructive collaboration.
Additionally, those who experienced or engaged in the conflict have been deeply frustrated by their lack of autonomy to editorialise freely in line with Wikipedia’s NPOV policy. Many felt betrayed by international Wikipedians who they expected to stand up for free expression online.
Regarding content produced during this period, some topics were banned outright while others were edited under heavy restrictions or oversight by Project Banquet members. Some topics were also allowed to remain untouched during the conflict – such as topics related to politics and human rights – but these remain highly fraught as editors face continuing challenges due to their political nature.
These restrictions have further undermined public trust in Chinese Wikipedia and have deterred many potential contributors from engaging in meaningful collaboration due to fear of censorship or surveillance from authorities. As a result, the future of Chinese Wikipedia remains uncertain. Still, if collaboration is prevented from progressing freely, there can be no discussion about achieving consensus over controversial topics without interference from external sources.
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