china

I just got done mentioning how hard it is for me to fully participate in Wikipedia from China. But English-language Wikipedia is suddenly accessible tonight from Beijing.

Obviously, Chinese officials read this blog and care very much about my opinions. (Blogspot's available too, but I didn' t ask for that. So whatever.)

I can't say I discovered this on my own. Danwei's "Net Nanny" post tipped me off.

I can confirm that both Wikipedia and Blogspot work from my connection and that this will make my life easier.

But as Danwei, the Chinese media and … Read more

Inspectors for the International Olympic Committee are reminding China of its obligation to provide open Internet access to journalists attending this summer's games, according to a BBC news report.

China, which will host the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, has a reputation of restricting Internet access to various Web sites, such as YouTube, which recently has served up video clips of unrest in Tibet, and to foreign news sites.

But under its contract with the International Olympic Committee, China is required to provide journalists with Internet access, according to the BBC report. The IOC expressed concern over China'… Read more

Shanghai developers plan to begin construction next year on what they say will be the world's first sustainable "eco-city" on a plot almost the size of Manhattan. The Dongtan, or East Beach, project is to be built on Chongming Island and is slated to eventually support half a million residents.

Among other things, the city is envisioned to recycle almost all of its waste, produce its electricity, and ferry people around in hydrogen fuel-cell buses and solar-powered water taxis, according to The Seattle Times

But amid high hopes, there is fear that the environmental project will end … Read more

That's right, Wikipedia now has 10 million articles. But participation in this global brain-share is restricted in China.

Wikipedia being blocked is news to no one in China, but there's a bit of a catch-22 even for those who use proxies to get around the restrictions: many proxy URLs and anonymizers are banned from editing Wikipedia to reduce vandalism.

When I want to see an article on Wikipedia, I pop it into the Anonymouse Web site, and the content comes right up. But if I see a mistake in an article, I'm unable to make my contribution.… Read more

In the name of competitiveness, Hong Kong has announced that it will expand the free wi-fi available at government buildings to 350 public locations around the city, Xinhua reports.

The GovWiFi program now gives free access to wireless Internet at over 30 government buildings and will have put in place around 2,000 hotspots to cover about 350 locations by mid-2009, said Frederick Ma, secretary for commerce and economic development. ...

The program will cover libraries, government offices, job centers, public inquiry centers, sports, cultural and recreation centers, community centers and parks.

Targeted hotspots are a nice consolation prize, as many … Read more

Foreign bloggers across China enthusiastically greeted the recent de-blocking of BBC News, but the key to the story was that the Chinese language service was still blocked. Now even the Chinese site is available in once city.

As a rule, internet censorship in China is more stringent when content appears in Chinese. The assumed reasoning is that, while many Chinese internet users can read English, Chinese language sources, especially produced by something like the BBC or Voice of America, are more likely to be blocked. It's also a common and somewhat reasonable assumption that people who already know how … Read more

This year's big international web conference is in Beijing next month, and hundreds of innovators from around the world will see the Chinese internet first hand.

The 17th Annual International World Wide Web Conference, held by a nonprofit that puts together these confabs somewhere on Earth every year, has given the conference the theme of "One World, One Web"--playing on the Olympic slogan "One World, One Dream."

Though the majority of the program is, as usual, devoted to innovations in the world wide web, several speeches and panels will take up the Chinese internet. … Read more

For the second year in a row, Google shareholders will be asked to hold the Web search giant accountable for protecting free speech, regardless of international borders.

One of the proposals to be submitted at the annual shareholder meeting scheduled for May 8, would require Google to create policies to protect freedom of access to the Internet, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and released publicly on Tuesday.

"Technology companies in the United States have failed to develop adequate standards by which they can conduct business with authoritarian governments while protecting … Read more

So much for taking the bus in the People's Republic.

In its latest airport development plan, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) says the country will erect 97 new airports before 2020, according to the People's Daily, a prominent, unbiased, and properly licensed source of news in China.

The number of airports will increase to 192 by 2010 and rise to 244 by 2020, it said. Right now, there are 147 airports in China, with 45 of those serving civilian and military purposes. Building these airports will cost $64 billion, but once complete, 81 percent … Read more