Last week, Chinese Wikipedia was inaccessible to users throughout the country, but the site reopened on June 17.

Though it is still unclear why the site was blocked, one cannot help thinking about the new governmental circular asking for Internet Service Providers to refrain from “inappropriate material”, which includes contentious political and social commentary.

During the ban, Wikipedia’s founder, James Wales commented on the event: “By policy, Wikipedia is not a political site in any way. We are a general reference encyclopedia with a strong neutrality policy. Articles are carefully researched and reviewed by Chinese people in Taiwan, Hong Kong, as well as mainland China. Therefore, Wikipedia is an excellent test case. When Wikipedia is blocked, it can not be claimed that only lies or propaganda are blocked, because we are neither. When we are blocked, it is information itself that is being blocked.”

Via Many-2-Many.
Related entries: Chinese self-disciplinary pact, Chinese Wikipedia still seems to be blocked.