China Creates its Own Domain Names (UPDATED)

Since this story was originally reported, additional information has been uncovered that suggests the People’s Daily Online report mentioned in the article is false.  For updates, read ICANN: China Domain Report False and Report Sparks Fears China May Split ’Net.

China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has established a set of new top-level and second-level domain names, according to People’s Daily Online, the Web site of the official People’s Daily newspaper.

The new domain name system took effect as of Wednesday, according to the report. “It means Internet users don’t have to surf the Web via the servers under the management of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) of the United States,” the report said.

The MII has temporarily set up Chinese versions of three existing top-level domain names: “.cn,” “.com” and “.net,” according to the report. China’s top-level domain established through ICANN is “.cn” in Roman characters.

Also, the MII added two kinds of second-level domain names to the Romanized “.cn” top-level domain. One set of second-level domains will cover categories of institutions: “.ac” for research entities, “.edu” for educational institutions, “.gov” for government departments and “.mil” for defense departments, according to People’s Daily Online. The other set of second-level domain names will be for China’s provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and special administrative regions. In most cases they will be derived from Romanized spellings of the localities, such as “.bj” for Beijing and “.sh” for Shanghai, the report said.

For related news, read China, Taiwan Tiff Won’t Hurt Global Tech Supplies.

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-Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service