China has lifted the ban on its citizens viewing the English language version of Wikipedia.

The state's internet censorship software, the so-called 'Great Firewall of China', is now allowing the site to be viewed, but with limits.

Topics such as 'Tibet' and 'Tiananmen Square massacre' are still being blocked from view, according to Reuters.

The opening up may be linked to the forthcoming Olympics, as the International Olympic Committee has apparently specified that blocking the internet "would reflect very poorly" on the host country.

China routinely blocks many internet sites and tried to block all online video sites that were not state owned, but backed down after protests from Google and others.