Beijing Eases Limits on Wikipedia

Prodded by the International Olympic Committee, China has seemingly eased restrictions on the English-language version of Wikipedia, Reuters reports. But authorities continue to block access to articles related to sensitive topics such as Tibet and Tiananmen Square. Users in Shanghai and Beijing, the site of the summer Olympics, reported being able to view some pages on the popular web encyclopedia.

But searches for English-language articles on Tibet, for example, yielded an error message, and citizens are still barred from viewing the Chinese-language version of the site. The IOC has warned Beijing that blocking web access during the Olympic games “would reflect very poorly” on China, which maintains strict controls on media and public access to the web. (More China stories.)