Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world. Founded in 2001, Wikipedia now has 280 language versions. 16 of them have more than half a million articles each.

The encyclopedia of China  (Photo: Wikipedia)

The demands for information are on rise in China. But in some of its regions, Wikipedia is not accessible. That’s why China plans to compile its own state-sponsored online encyclopedia. Some 20,000 scholars and researchers are invited to contribute articles in over 100 disciplines. The Chinese Encyclopedia will have over 300,000 entries of around 1,000 words each, twice as large as the Encyclopedia Britannica and a similar size to Wikipedia in Chinese.

Yang Muzhi, editor in chief of the project, described the Chinese Encyclopedia as “a great wall of culture." The project was approved by the Chinese government in 2011, but the implementation process has begun recently. The move includes the Chinese State into direct competition with Chinese companies who have published their own online encyclopedias, like Baidu and Qihu 360, as well as with Wikipedia.

The Chinese encyclopedia was first published in 1993 and republished in 2012.