Even the Chinese Wikipedia is now available through a relay

Commenter htchien points out that Chinese users can now reach the Chinese-language Wikipedia through the site's SSL-encrypted gateway.

Graham Webster

Formerly a journalist and consultant in Beijing, Graham Webster is a graduate student studying East Asia at Harvard University. At Sinobyte, he follows the effects of technology on Chinese politics, the environment, and global affairs. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

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Graham Webster

April 13, 2008 2:18 a.m. PT

Commenter htchien points out that Chinese users can now reach the Chinese-language Wikipedia through the site's SSL-encrypted gateway.

The standard site, zh.wikipedia.org, is still blocked. (The URL I thought led there, cn.wikipedia.org, sent me to Yahoo China last time I tried.) But for now at least, the secure URL is functional and could open the big wiki to more participation from China.

Htchein is Ted (Hsiang-Tai) Chien, who lists a position as Secretary of Wikimedia Taiwan.

UPDATE: At Ted Chien's request, I have (at least temporarily) removed the secure URL from this post. His concern is that posting the URL might tip off Chinese authorities and cause that portal to be blocked as well. I have posted a call for comments as to whether bloggers should post workarounds to online censorship. -Graham

UPDATE II: After asking for comments, I've decided that my inclination to post workarounds is the right idea. Here's the link I temporarily removed: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/zh/wiki.