Chinese rush in to unblocked Wikipedia

Earlier this month, the Chinese government lifted all restrictions on that country's version of Wikipedia, the open, user-created encyclopedia.

Now, reports Andrew Lih, a writer and researcher living in Beijing, the first results are in as to the effects on the Wikipedia site after the unblocking. One word describes it: "deluge."

According to Lih, the blocked Chinese Wikipedia site was getting on average around 300 to 400 new registrants a day. But after the recent pullback of restrictions, that number has gone up to more than 1,000 a day. On November 12, a Sunday, the site had 1,200 new sign-ups.

Thus, the 12th-largest language Wikipedia, says Lih, is now the second-fastest growing version by number of users, after English.

Apparently, the flood of new users comes mostly from mainland China itself. That is evident because in the pre-unblocking days, 50 percent of the registrants were from Hong Kong or Taiwan, while the rest were from any number of countries, including China proper.