New China web domains adopted
June 29, 2010 | Posted by Chris
This weekend the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -- better known as ICANN -- formally approved the adoption of new Chinese-language web domains, major new outlets report. ICANN, which controls the development of top-level web domains that include .com and .net, has been rolling out new domains meant to make the internet more accessible to people throughout the world. This weekend's announcement adds .中国 (".china"), .香港 (".hongkong") and .台湾 (".taiwan") to an expanding list of native-language domains that already include domains tailored for Egypt, Russia, Saudia Arabia and the UAE. "One fifth of the world speaks Chinese and that means we just increased the potential online accessibility for roughly a billion people," gushed ICANN president Rod Beckstrom. For web users curious about when they'll begin seeing the new domains online, ICANN says that .cn domains will automatically transition to their Chinese-language equivalents, and that major content producers and search engines have already jumped on board.
