New wikipeadia : it’s made in China…!!

China is building its own version of Wikipedia, with the aid of more than 20,000 scholars who work for the government.

          The Chinese rival to the internet's open-source font of knowledge is set to launch in 2018. It will feature more than 300,000 entries and serve as a "Great Wall of culture," according to Yang Muzhi, editor-in-chief of the project. Unlike with Wikipedia, though, volunteers and citizens won't be able to edit entries.

          Wikipedia is available in China, but some of its content is blocked. The Encyclopedia of China was first published in 1993, in paper form, with the support of scholars, and released a second edition in 2012.

          But critics said the government-funded works omitted or distorted some entries for political purposes. The idea for an online version was approved in 2011, but work on it began only recently.

          It will take the state into direct competition with local companies that have launched their own online encyclopedias - such as Baidu and Qihu 360, as well as the largest platform, Wikipedia.

          Currently, users on the mainland can read some Wikipedia content, but searches for sensitive topics such as the Dalai Lama and President Xi Jinping are blocked.      

          China's censorship laws famously mean its people cannot access the same version of the internet as much of the rest of the world. The government's fractious relationships with many web companies mean that Chinese internet users, in many cases, end up with alternative, China-only services.

          Wikipedia is one such victim of censorship rules, with countless articles blocked in China. As a result, the country has been under pressure to produce its own encyclopedia to showcase developments in science and tech and to promote history, heritage, culture and socialist values, according to Yang.

          In an article for a mainland newspaper last year, MrYang said Wikipedia's appeal in China was "bewitching".

          But he added: "We have the biggest, most high-quality author team in the world. "Our goal is not to catch up, but overtake."

          Last week, Turkish authorities blocked access to Wikipedia within the country without giving a reason.

          In 2014, Russia also announced plans for an alternative version of Wikipedia, with the stated aim of providing better information about the country than was available on the platform.

          How much control the government will have over the content published in the online encyclopedia is unknown.

          This shows the growing rift between China and other nations. The Chinese believes that the rest of the nations are trying to defame them over the Dalai Lama issue. Now they are creating alternative page for Wikipedia, tomorrow it will make way for them to be isolated from other nations.