China's biggest Internet search site, Baidu.com, is going to launch a Chinese-language encyclopedia inspired by the cooperative reference site Wikipedia.

The Chinese site, which debuted in April, carries entries written by users, but warns that it will delete content about sex, terrorism and malice attacks on the government.

The emergence of Baidu's encyclopedia reflects efforts by Chinese entrepreneurs to take advantage of conditions created by the government's efforts to simultaneously promote and control Internet use.

Baidu calls its site Baike. It says users have written more than 25,000 entries in the past week alone on cooking, the stock market, Chinese tourist sites and other topics.

Baidu said managers weren't immediately available to answer questions about the site. But chairman Robin Li told The Financial Times newspaper in comments last week that it was inspired by Wikipedia, though he said he hasn't seen the US-based site.

"I certainly hope our encyclopedia will be the most authoritative one for any Chinese users," Li was quoted as saying. "The initial reaction has been very positive, so we are quite confident that we will quickly become No. 1 in this area."

China has 111 million Internet users, second only to the United States. The government promotes Web use for business and education.

Baidu was founded in 2000 by Li, a US-trained computer scientist who worked for search engine firm Infoseek, and Eric Xu, a veteran of American biotech firms. Xu later left the company.

(Shenzhen Daily May 15, 2006)