Part of the letter read, 'By blocking Wikipedia, we lose a chance to present China's voice to the world, allowing evil cults, Taiwan independence forces and others. Wikipedia users Shi Zhao and Cui Wei wrote letters to technicians and authorities in an attempt to convince them to unblock the website. Wikipedia was again blocked in China in October 2005. Wikipedia was blocked again for unknown reasons in September but only for four days.
On 22 June 2004, access to Wikipedia was restored without explanation. However, a story by the International Herald Tribune comparing entries on the Chinese and English Wikipedias on topics such as Mao Zedong and Taiwan concluded that the Chinese entries were 'watered down and sanitized' of political controversy. Proposals to practice self-censorship in a bid to restore the site were rejected by the Chinese Wikipedia community. Wikipedia received positive coverage in China's state press in early 2004 but was blocked on 3 June 2004, ahead of the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The Chinese Wikipedia was launched in May 2001. As of April 2019, all versions of Wikipedia are blocked in Mainland China under the Great Firewall. Further information: Internet censorship in ChinaĪccess to Wikipedia has varied over the years with the Chinese language version being controlled more tightly than other versions.