Wikipedia partially unblocked in mainland China
For the first time in nearly a year, users in mainland People's Republic of China can read much of Wikipedia's content without resorting to various circumvention techniques. Internet regulators last week partially lifted the blocking of Wikipedia. However, as Andrew Lih commented, "the most important part of Wikipedia for PRC users - the Chinese version - is still not generally accessible."
The lifting of the block was reported Tuesday, 10 October, on the Wikimedia Foundation mailing list by Mountain and Shi Zhao, two prominent contributors to the Chinese-language Wikipedia. They indicated that the English Wikipedia and most others could now be accessed, but the Chinese Wikipedia remained blocked.
Although not the first time Wikipedia has been blocked in the mainland of China, this has easily been the longest. The current round of blocking began on 18 October or 19 October 2005, meaning that the Chinese Wikipedia will have been blocked for a full year as of later this week. Two previous blocks in 2004 lasted for only a few days or weeks.