Following 'Tianya Club', 'Xici Hutong' to Relaunch

(CNA Taipei, June 30) Following the official restoration of access to 'Tianya Club' on June 1 this year, another well-known Chinese online forum, 'Xici Hutong', is also set to make a comeback. On the evening of the 29th, the WeChat public account of 'Xici Hutong Net' released 'A Letter to Old Friends of Xici'. The Xici operations team stated in the letter that 'Xici Hutong' will officially relaunch on July 1.

According to a report by The Paper, regarding the reasons for the long-term suspension of updates, the Xici operations team stated in the letter that the core reason stemmed from disputes during the project handover in the early stages. In December 2020, Xici Company delivered the website source code and overall database to a software development company for iterative development of a new version. However, due to multiple vulnerabilities and security risks during the programming development process, the original website was taken offline in April 2021, and Xici entered a state of suspension from then on.

The team stated that in May 2022, Fuzhou Feiyang Company officially took over Xici through public judicial auction, fully undertaking the Xici brand and overall operating rights. However, in the subsequent handover process, the original software development company refused to transfer the website source code and original database as stipulated in the contract, and the handover work completely stalled. Currently, the relevant disputes are still in the judicial litigation process, which is the fundamental reason why Xici Hutong has been unable to return to normal for many years and has been delayed in restarting.

The Xici team stated that the new version of Xici has initially completed intelligent upgrades, integrated Xici's self-developed large model, and is fully applied to all site governance scenarios such as member identity verification, post content screening, and image compliance review. Relying on the AI intelligent governance system, it aims to create a safer, purer, and more stable online community environment, allowing Xici to completely bid farewell to past instability issues.

Regarding future services, the team stated that the returning Xici will focus on e-commerce platforms and local services.

As one of the earliest well-known community websites in China, Xici Hutong was founded in 1998, and at its peak, it had over 30 million registered users. Xici began its open operational model from its inception, where the site management and maintenance of the community platform and categories were handled by the site, while users could create discussion boards, manage them, and develop them independently, freely posting messages and communicating.

Prior to this, 'Tianya Club' officially restored access on June 1, 2026, after being suspended for more than 3 years. 'Tianya Club' was created in 1999, and in the early 2000s, it was an important online platform for Chinese civilian political commentary, where public intellectuals expressed their views and engaged in intellectual discourse. (Editor: Zhu Jianling / Lu Jiarong) 1150630

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