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You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (June 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. |topic= will aid in categorization.Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:百度百科]]; see its history for attribution.{{Translated|zh|百度百科}} to the talk page. |
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The main page, on 1 February 2016
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Type of site | Online encyclopedia |
|---|---|
| Available in | Standard Chinese |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters |
,
China
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| Owner | Baidu |
| Created by | Robin Li |
| URL | baike |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional (required to edit pages) |
| Users | +6.9 million (2019)[1] |
| Current status | Active |
| Baidu Baike | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 百度百科 | ||||||||||||
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Baidu Baike (/ˈbaɪduː ˈbaɪkə/; Chinese: 百度百科; pinyin: Bǎidù Bǎikē; lit. 'Baidu Encyclopedia', also known as Baidu Wiki[2]) is a semi-regulated Chinese-language collaborative online encyclopedia owned by the Chinese technology company Baidu.[1] The beta version was launched on April 20, 2006,[1] and the official version was launched on April 21, 2008, edited by registered users. As of February 2022,[update] it has 25.54 million entries and more than 7.5 million editors.[1] It has the largest number of entries in the world of any Chinese-language online encyclopedia.[3]
Baidu officially stated that the Baidu Encyclopedia, while establishing an online encyclopedia, also serves as the information storage space provided by Baidu for netizens. Baidu Baike advocates "equality, collaboration, sharing, and freedom" in spirit, and technically combines this network platform with search engines to meet users' information needs at different levels.[4] When searching using Baidu search engine, if Baidu Baike has included the entry corresponding to the search term, its link will usually be ranked at the top of the search page.[5]
Baidu Baike has been criticised for its censorship, copyright violations, commercialist practices and abundance of unsourced information.[6][7][8]
In March 2021, Baidu Baike restricted viewing of article history to two categories of users. The first category is users who have a "wiki level" greater than 4, have an edit pass rate of over 85%, and who are in the "wiki master group". The second is users who have a "wiki level" greater than 6 and have an edit pass rate of over 85%. Baidu Baike stated that this limit was to "protect the accuracy of articles, and avoid distraction on the false information on past versions."[9]
In April 2024, Baidu announced that the dedicated Baidu Baike app, but not Baidu Baike itself, was to be shut down in June.[10]
Baidu Baike was founded by Robin Li in April 2006, following the Chinese government's decision to censor Wikipedia in 2005.[1][11]
The beta version of Baidu Baike was launched on April 20, 2006.[1] From April 5 to 20 for a period of internal testing. According to the serial number in the entry address bar, the first 10 entries were Baidu Baike, "Entries", an edit experiment (sand table page, has been deleted), Mántou (steamed buns), orchid cultivation (deleted due to typos), Yandang Mountain, Lingfeng, Dalongqiu, Wudafusong and Red Food. After 20 days, it had more than 300,000 registered users and more than 100,000 articles, surpassing the number in Chinese Wikipedia.[12] As of November 2019,[update] it had 16 million articles and more than 6.9 million editors.[1]
Baidu's William Chang said at WWW2008, the conference of the World Wide Web Consortium, "There is, in fact, no reason for China to use Wikipedia ... It's very natural for China to make its own products."[13] When searching with the search engine Baidu, the link of the corresponding entry in Baidu Baike, if it exists, will be put as the first result or one of the first results.[14]
In March 2021, Chinese netizens claimed that South Korean netizens changed their entries related to Chinese history on a large scale through the historical version comparison function of Baidu Baike. The exposure of this incident had a negative impact on Baidu Baike.[citation needed] In order to prevent such incidents from recurring[citation needed], Baidu Baike stipulates that the historical version function is only available to users of the "Baike Expert Group" with a level 4 encyclopedia and a pass rate of over 85% and professional users with a level 6 encyclopedia and a pass rate of over 85%. Open, ordinary users no longer have the right to view historical versions of entries and use the historical version comparison function. Baidu Encyclopedia officially claims that this is to "ensure that the majority of netizens obtain the accuracy of entry information and avoid interference from outdated information in various historical versions".[15]
On April 24, 2024, Baidu posted an announcement on Baidu Baike that it would end support for the dedicated Baidu Baike application on June 30 to focus on "better user experiences".[16]
In addition to the search engine, Baidu Baike also has an information tool that is divided into twelve areas: nature, culture, geography, history, life, society, art, personalities, economy, science, sport and current events.[citation needed]
Articles are written and edited by registered users and reviewed by administrators prior to publication. There is no formal way to contact administrators. Contributions from registered users are evaluated under a scoring system. Although the test version was called the Baidu Wiki, official press releases and pages from Baidu Baike itself stated that the system for this was not a Wiki. Baidu Baike does not use MediaWiki.[citation needed]
Baidu Baike's visual style is simple. In articles, only bolding and hyperlinks are supported. Comments are listed at the bottom of each page. In addition to its Wiki-like functions, the site supports editing, commenting, printing articles and viewing an article's history.[citation needed]
Users can access multiple editing functions including:
In this encyclopedia, any comments or articles that contain the following will be removed:[17]
The copyright policy is outlined on the help page in the terms of use section. In it, Baidu states that by adding content to the site, users agree to waive the copyright of their contributions to Baidu. It also states that the content must not violate intellectual property law and that content using the Creative Commons and/or GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) must respect the limitations of such licenses.[18] Despite this, Baidu has received criticism for violating the GFDL license when using content directly from Wikipedia, infringing copyright on Hudong.com and tending to plagiarize other sites.[19]
There are three organized groups within the Baidu Baike community.[citation needed] The Baike Elite Team consists of about 340 core contributors that are directed by Baidu and serve as community liaisons. There is also a group of campus ambassadors made of students and an expert team with over 2,500 members, including university professors.[1]
Baidu Baike engages in partnerships with cultural institutions in China and abroad to digitize cultural heritage. In late 2017, Baidu signed an agreement in China to create "2,000 online digital museums" in the next three years.[20] In early 2018, partnerships were expanded to cover 1,000 Spanish cities and tourist sites, including the Camino de Santiago, the Sagrada Família and the Prado Museum.[21][22]
Baidu Baike has been accused by some critics of censorship[23] and by the former chair of the Wikimedia Foundation of copyright violation.[23][24] Additionally, Baidu Baike has also been accused of commercialization. Due to unsourced information in Baidu Baike, there are also concerns over its correctness.[25]
Critics of the encyclopedia note that it censors its content in accordance with the requirements of the Chinese government.[23][26][27] Being in the jurisdiction of the Chinese government, Baidu is required to censor content on their encyclopedia in accordance to relevant laws and regulations such as the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China and the National Intelligence Law.[28][29][30] All editors must register accounts using their real names before editing, and administrators review all edits before they become available to the public.[24] This censorship has attracted criticism.[23][26][27]
In 2013 Citizen Lab released a report saying that censorship is known to take place on Baidu Baike but "identifying outright instances or patterns in censorship can be difficult due to the (mostly) user-generated nature and oversight of the content."[26]
In 2007, Florence Devouard, then Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, said that "They [Baidu Baike] do not respect the license at all, [...] That might be the biggest copyright violation we have. We have others."[23][24] Users of the Chinese Wikipedia created a list of entries allegedly infringing Wikipedia's copyright.[1] The Wikimedia Foundation decided not to pursue any legal action.[24] In response to criticism, Baidu stressed that Baike is a platform for user-generated content.[23]
Baidu Baike users often fail to list the source and mark the original author or the copyright statement of the original website when reprinting content from copyrighted websites or official publications, or completely ignore its license terms, causing infringement of the copyright of others. For example, Wikipedia entries use Copyleft's free content licensing terms, while Baidu Baike’s copyright license is not free. Baidu Baike’s use of Wikipedia’s entry content is copyright infringement. Some even copy all Wikipedia entries, which violates the copyright law of mainland China.[31]
Due to copyright issues, the content of Baidu Baike does not meet various accepted definitions of opennessorfreedom.[32][33][34][35]
In addition to copyright concerns, criticism of Baidu Baike mainly focuses on its academic merits and lack of neutrality. The former is manifested in the lack of detailed and clear source references for the entries it contains, leading to the accuracy of its content being questioned.[7] Baidu Baike does not limit entries based on notability.[6]
In 2011, an online poll involving 561 Baidu Baike users showed that the main criticisms of users on Baidu Baike included "insufficient review and proliferation of wrong content", "too much plagiarism and copy-pasting and too little original work", "information contained on the entries" and "lack of authority and credibility".[25]
Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures was a humorous hoax and internet meme originating from Baidu Baike.[36]
Media related to Baidu Baike at Wikimedia Commons (in Chinese)|
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