BaiduWiki
Multilingual wiki-based online encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BaiduWiki is Baidu's multilingual version of Baidu Baike online encyclopedia. It was launched in January 2026, in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian and Japanese. The articles were translated from the traditional Chinese Baidu Baike with the help of AI tools. The intention is to compete with Wikipedia for the international market. The launch of BaiduWiki marks Baidu Baike's official transition from a Chinese knowledge platform to a global knowledge service, and the expansion of its single-language version to a Chinese version and an international multilingual version.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
 BaiduWiki logo | |||||||
Type of site | Online encyclopedia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Available in | English, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Russian | ||||||
| Founded | 2026 | ||||||
| Headquarters | , China | ||||||
| Owner | Baidu | ||||||
| Created by | Baidu | ||||||
| URL | https://baike.baidu.com/en/index | ||||||
| Commercial | Yes | ||||||
| Registration | Optional (required to edit pages) | ||||||
| Current status | Active | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 百度維基 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 百度维基 | ||||||
| |||||||
History
Baidu Baike was created in Chinese language by Baidu founder Robin Li, and was released to the public as a replacement of Wikipedia in China around 20 April 2006, following the Chinese government's decision to censor Wikipedia in 2005.[8][9][10]
During the conference WWW2008 of the World Wide Web Consortium, Baidu's William Chang said, "There is, in fact, no reason for China to use Wikipedia ... It's very natural for China to make its own products."[11] The Chinese government has, through the Great Firewall, blocked access to all editions of Wikipedia since 2019.[12][13][7]
Baidu Baike reached 30 million articles in 2025.[14] In the mid 2020s, Baidu Baike faced challenges from Large Language Model-based AI assistants supplanting the need for users to consult Baidu Baike for information.[15][7][3]
On January 30, 2026, Baidu launched BaiduWiki, an international version of Baidu Baike available in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Russian. The articles were translated from the Chinese version Baidu Baike with help of AI tools. The launch of BaiduWiki marks Baidu Baike's official transition from a Chinese knowledge platform to a global knowledge service. It also marks the expansion of Baidu's single-language version to a Chinese version and an international multilingual version.[1][2][5][3]
On February 1, 2026, the numbers of articles on BaiduWiki exceeded one million.[1][3][16]
On February 9, 2026, an “international version” entry point was added to the traditional Baidu Baike, allowing readers to move directly from its Chinese pages to their corresponding multilingual pages on BaiduWiki.[4][16](Please see the "文A English" or "国际版" multilingual button on the screen images of the sources)
Features
BaiduWiki is a multilingual online encyclopedia of around one million entries in Wikipedia style, available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Japanese. The purpose is to create an authoritative portal for global users to understand Chinese culture.[1][7][5][3]
The articles were translated from the selected most advantageous content of the Chinese Baidu Baike of over 30 million articles, with the help of multiple AI agents including Baidu's ERNIE AI model.[5][1][7][6][3]
BaiduWiki supports content presentation by video, text and images, and relationships.[5][1][6] In the first week after its launch, BaiduWiki saw a 37% increase in searches by overseas users and a 52% increase in views of knowledge-based content.[17]
As of February 2026, Baidu had accumulated over 8.03 million contributing users. Its "Program of Stars" has partnered with institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University, and collaborated with 100,000 experts to create over 1 million pieces of professional knowledge.[3]
Debate
While Wikipedia depends on human editors for much of the jobs, BaiduWiki heavily relies on AI to create and edit articles. This may speed up editing work, but may also cause questioning of content accuracy and neutrality.[7]