Wikipedia in China still ranks high
Despite still being widely blocked in China, Wikipedia still ranks high according to China Websites Ranking (中国网站排名). It’s the #1 online encyclopedia, and the #3 overall reference site.
This is actually quite surprising. It seems to indicate that even with the PRC actively blocking Wikipedia’s traffic into China, folks have sought out Wikipedia’s content over sites that are more easily available. We know the Internet has largely been considered an “entertainment and communication highway,” so let’s consider the general users of reference sites in China, namely students.
We’ve known for a while most college students in China are savvy enough to use proxy servers to skirt Internet blocking. It’s been thought they use proxies only on occasion, since firing up the software is such a nuisance. But it seems they may be bothering to do so when it comes to Wikipedia. That would be in sync with Wikipedia’s incredible popularity among high school and college students in the US. (Tell an American university student you’re taking away their YouTube, Myspace and Wikipedia, and they’ll likely complain the most about missing Wikipedia).
Another surprise — the folks who started the China Websites Ranking site include the State Council Information Office, which has a hand in the operation of the Great Firewall. So the SCIO’s own ranking shows that folks are getting around the blocks, and in large numbers.
ENCYCLOPEDIAS:
REFERENCE SITES:
Caveat: Though there’s not much information about their methodology, they say they have “experts” involved, and their tool looks quite like Alexa. So take it with some skepticism. Also, their numbers seem to be dated back to September of 2006, around the time that Wikipedia was unblocked for a brief period, so that may have skewed the results somewhat.
December 20th, 2006 08:07
Am I correct in reading that four other the other top encyclopedia sites are wikis, and that Baidu Baike doesn’t make the list?
December 20th, 2006 08:20
Nick, it would seem so. But again, since these are Alexa-like methods, some things could be wildly off mark. But just a spot check to the wiki encyclopedias above indicate they are much fancier than Baidu Baike. The former tend to use Mediawiki or something as powerful, while Baidu Baike seems a bit more anemic.
But I am surprised too that Baidu Baike does not even place in the top seven. Will see if anyone else has any theories.
December 20th, 2006 23:07
[…] CHINA - Wikipedia in China still ranks high “Despite still being widely blocked in China, Wikipedia still ranks high according to China Websites Ranking (中国网站排名). It’s the #1 online encyclopedia, and the #3 overall reference site.” […]
December 28th, 2006 18:59
You probablyalready know this–there’s also a China wiki (http://www.wikilib.com/), although it’s plastered with ads. There’s also a Wiki Mirror in English!–(http://en.wikilib.org/wiki/Main_Page).