HONG KONG — The Chinese-language version of Wikipedia has become more than an online encyclopedia: it is a battlefield for editors from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong in a region charged with political, ideological and cultural differences.

Wikipedia editors, all volunteers, present opposing views on politics, history and traditional Chinese culture — in essence, different versions of China. Compounding the issue are language differences: Mandarin is the official language in mainland China and Taiwan, while the majority in Hong Kong speak Cantonese. But mainland China uses simplified characters, while Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional script.

That has led to articles on otherwise innocuous topics becoming flash points, and has caused controversial entries to be restricted.

The entry on the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, for example, has been subject to “edit wars” since the site was created. Editors have argued over whether it constituted a “massacre,” whether the People’s Liberation Army suppressed the protests “with force,” or if the Beijing authorities had been “hiding the truth.”