Wikipedia is the best source of knowledge at present on the internet. Be it historical facts, geograhical topography, political figures or entertainment personalities, Wikipedia has anything and everything. From education to art, from awards to books, there are very few things that are not on Wikipedia. But, this one quality of Wikipedia may not be appealing to everyone. It contains some dark days of history, some dark politics and unwanted information which may be a resourceful insight for some countries but deleterious for another. the same has happened with China. China is not pleased with all the things written about the country on Wikipedia. Hence, it has decided to launch its own version of Wiki, the Chinese rival version in 2018.
Turkey had blocked the website long ago in order to block the unwanted information about the country. But China is not following Turkey’s footstep. Instead of blocking the website, it’s launching its own version of Wikipedia. This website will be based on the information from “Encyclopaedia of China”. This book was first published in 1993 in paperback, and then released as a second edition in 2012. China will bring together “the biggest, most high-quality author team in the world”, according to Yang Muzhi, editor-in-chief of the site and chairman of the Book and Periodicals Distribution Association of China.
At present, Wikipedia is accessible in China excepting some information like the one based on Chinese President Xi Jinping and The Dalai Lama. For this new website, Chinese authorities have reportedly gathered 20,000 people to create 300,000 entries of around 1,000 words each for this new knowledge portal. The articles will be contributed only by qualified scholars from state-run universities. According to the same Mr. Yang, the project aims to create what he calls a “Great Wall of culture”. It’s not yet clear what will be the name of the website and the launch date.
