China is planning to launch an online version of its national encyclopedia the very next year, to compete with Wikipedia.
As per the reports, more than 20,000 people had been hired to work on the project, which will feature 300,000 entries at about 1,000 words each.
The working of this encyclopedia will be different than Wikipedia, as it will be created by selected scholars from state-run universities rather than being openly editable by volunteers.
Though Wikipedia is also available there in China, instead, some of its content is blocked.
Yang Muzhi, the editor-in-chief of the project said, “The Encyclopaedia of China is not a book, but a Great Wall of culture.” Muzhi chairs the Book and Periodicals Distribution Association of China.
He further said that China was facing international pressure to produce its own platform to guide “the public and society”.
It was back in 1993 that Encyclopaedia of China was first published in paper form, with the support of scholars, and released a second edition in 2012.
As per the critics, the government-funded works omitted or distorted some entries for political purposes.
The idea for an online version was approved in 2011, while the work on it began only recently.
This encyclopedia will have 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.
Though users on the mainland can read some Wikipedia content, but searches for sensitive topics are blocked.
Taha Yasseri, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, told the BBC: “The need for information in China makes people use Wikipedia through the usual anti-filtering tools, and this is far from ideal for an authoritarian state.
“So, this initiative is to attract more users towards the state-approved content.”
His colleague Joss Wright, however, said the platform could also offer “a more uniquely ‘Chinese’ experience that domestic users tend to like”.
‘High-quality’ authors
In an article for a mainland newspaper last year, Mr Yang 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.
