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Navigating the bamboo scaffolding of China's rapid-rising tower of technology

by Steven Millward, China


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.中国 is coming, and China is pleased

Nov 1, 2009 00:20

ICANN means web address can be all in Chinese


The Internet, for its 40th birthday this week, got quite a shakeup: For the first time ever, Internet domain extensions can comprise non-Latin characters. After the domination of .com, .net, .co.jp, .cn and countless others, people who speak and write Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, Hebrew (and many more) will soon have localized domain endings on Web site addresses. The tyranny of A to Z is over.

China will especially embrace this with patriotic fervor, ".中国", the nation's name. This, and others, will arrive some time in 2010.

This November, however, the "fast track process" will begin to agree upon these new address endings, and get everything in place for the launch next year--by which time ISPs, software and browser companies, and the general populace will be ready to use them.

The change is being enacted by ICANN, the US-based not-for-profit agency in charge of making the Internet function interoperably across the globe.

China has not always been so keen on ICANN and its methodology, but patriotic citizens will be happy to be able to type Chinese characters for the full Web address. At present, only the Web sites name may be in non-Latin characters, but the domain ending has to be in Latin script; eg: 谷歌. cn now redirects to google.cn. From next year, when this change goes live, Chinese Netizens can, if they so wish, type 谷歌.中国 for Google.cn, or type 百度.中国 as a replacement for the current Baidu.com.

Playing politics
Another reason China is pleased is purely political: According to China media expert Rebecca MacKinnon, ICANN has agreed to refer to Taiwan--the disputed territory which Beijing insists is an integral part of China, not an independent state--as "Chinese Taiwan". Although .tw domains will continue in Latin script, it is therefore not likely that Taiwan will get its own Chinese-character domain ending since it is "Chinese Taiwan", and neither a separate state, nor having a separate language as such.



6 comments   |   Share


 

    Talkback
mrfudo says...
Thanks Steven. This is the first article I have come across that has specific explanation on what's gonna be coming. You've done a great job.

So the Fast Track process on Nov 16 will decide only the top level domains? When can we actually register to get an IDN? And where do we need to go to do so?

It's vey exciting? I'll be interested to get one in Chinese and one in Japanese for my current website.

mr fudo
www.fudosan.co.nz

Nov 01, 2009 03:30
 
 
Sepanta says...
@Steven ; I`ve Thought Each Character Of Chineese Alphabet Is Just 1 Character . But Apparently Its Wrong , As I Can See In This Picture . Is It True ? Each Chineese Alphabet Character Means More Characters In English ?

Nov 01, 2009 03:31
 
 
scoobydoo says...
I don't see anything wrong with pariotism for one's own country, as long as it doesn't degenerate into a fighting match between the locals and foreigners living there. Verbal abuse and alleged attacks at Japanese tourists in Shanghai a few years ago is a case in point.

Having domain names in one's own language is a great idea, but there must also be English-equivalent names for easy access.

Nov 01, 2009 09:13
 
 
sirsteven says...
Thanks for the comments. I should point out that nothing has been confirmed yet - not even ".中国" is 100% fixed yet - but all the barriers have been removed, so it looks very likely. Recently ICANN backed-down from a 3-character minimum on these IDNs, which would've been awkward for China where most words can be expressed in just 1 or 2 characters. Now ICANN has fixed 2-characters as the minimum, which is a good result for China.

Nov 01, 2009 20:12
 
 
niubi says...
China already sells Chinese language IDNs. One wonders if this is in violation of ICANN and whether existing registrations would be invalidated.

Nov 01, 2009 22:32
 
 
sirsteven says...
Some further useful info from @NiuB that he told me on twitter is that ".中国", ".公司" (means 'company' and ".网络" {means 'net') are currently available for registration in China, and any new ".cn" registered now will also get the national ".中国" as well. More details, in English, on China-related IDNs can be found here: www.cnnic.net.cn/html/Dir/2005/10/11/3218.htm

Thanks to @NiuB for all that.

Nov 01, 2009 23:07
 
 
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About Steven Millward

Six years after arriving in China to 'check it out', Steven Millward has decided to stay put, and is hooked on the fast-changing dynamic of mainland China. He's not too intimidated that his current city of residence has a greater population than his entire homeland of Wales. A freelance editor, lifestyle magazine writer, English teacher, and rather enthusiastic blogger, he can also be found on twitter (as @SirSteven) discussing media, tech and music. You can email him with any tips, queries or feedback.

 
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