Access to the Wall Street Journal’s Chinese-language edition has been cut off in China, where official censors routinely delete online content deemed sensitive but less often block entire websites.

Access to the Wall Street Journal's Chinese-language edition has been cut off in China, where official censors routinely delete online content deemed sensitive but less often block entire websites.

Only the local version of the US newspaper,  and  not the English-language website, was unavailable. It was unclear why this occurred or whether it was intentional.

The Journal's Chinese-language site has had certain articles blocked since it was launched in 2002, but rarely the whole site.

The ruling Communist Party -- highly sensitive to social unrest that might challenge its authority -- tightly controls the Internet and news media.

A spokesperson for the Journal could not immediately be reached for comment.