Cyberdualism In China

Internet usage in China has recently grown exponentially, rising from 59 million users in 2002 to 710 million by mid-2016. One in every two Chinese has currently been exposed to the Internet. This upsurge has made political communication among citizens and between the government and citizens less costly and almost instantaneous in China. Despite these advances, scholars are only beginning to understand and systematically explain the ways in which increased Internet exposure may affect behavior and values of Chinese netizens. Can the Internet help liberalize Chinese society due to its innate pluralism? Has the Internet become an efficient tool assisting the ruling elite to remain in power given the tendency of Internet service providers and users to be easily manipulated by the Chinese state? This book addresses these questions by focusing on the most digitally embedded segment of Chinese population – university students. Using survey evidence from more than 1200 observations, data confirm that Internet exposure to information generated by fellow netizens promotes democratic orientation, enhances political resistance to indoctrination, and boosts popular nationalism. However, exposure to government-managed websites encourages regime support and, at a less significance level, decreases democratic orientation, and elevates official patriotism. People who perceive the Internet as a tool enhancing the vertical communication between the Chinese government and netizens tend to become patriotic and supportive of the regime. Building upon quantitative evidence, this book draws a nuanced picture of Internet exposure and its political implications.

Internet usage in China has recently grown exponentially, rising from 59 million users in 2002 to 710 million by mid-2016. One in every two Chinese has currently been exposed to the Internet. This upsurge has made political communication among citizens and between the government and citizens less costly and almost instantaneous in China. Despite these advances, scholars are only beginning to understand and systematically explain the ways in which increased Internet exposure may affect behavior and values of Chinese netizens. Can the Internet help liberalize Chinese society due to its innate pluralism? Has the Internet become an efficient tool assisting the ruling elite to remain in power given the tendency of Internet service providers and users to be easily manipulated by the Chinese state? This book addresses these questions by focusing on the most digitally embedded segment of Chinese population – university students. Using survey evidence from more than 1200 observations, data confirm that Internet exposure to information generated by fellow netizens promotes democratic orientation, enhances political resistance to indoctrination, and boosts popular nationalism. However, exposure to government-managed websites encourages regime support and, at a less significance level, decreases democratic orientation, and elevates official patriotism. People who perceive the Internet as a tool enhancing the vertical communication between the Chinese government and netizens tend to become patriotic and supportive of the regime. Building upon quantitative evidence, this book draws a nuanced picture of Internet exposure and its political implications.

The prevailing consumerism in Chinese cyberspace is a growing element of Chinese culture and an important aspect of this book. Chinese bloggers, who have strongly embraced consumerism and tend to be apathetic about politics, have nonetheless demonstrated political passion over issues such as the Western media's negative coverage of China. In this book, Jiang focuses upon this passion - Chinese bloggers' angry reactions to the Western media's coverage of censorship issues in current China - in order to examine China's current potential for political reform. A central focus of this book, then, is the specific issue of censorship and how to interpret the Chinese characteristics of it as a mechanism currently used to maintain state control. While Cyber-Nationalism in China examines fundamental questions surrounding the political implications of the Internet in China, it avoids simply predicting that the Internet does or does not lead to democratization. Applying a theoretical approach based on the Foucauldian notion of governmentality, the book builds on current scholarship that has attempted to move beyond examining the dynamics of the socio-cultural and -political use of new media technologies. Instead, this book's more intricate theoretical approach does not only accommodate the kind of liberal (apolitical or political) use observed on the Internet in China, but indicates that desires for political change, such as they are, are implicitly embedded in the relationship between China's online communities and state apparatus - noting, however, that the latter claims total governance over the Internet in the name of the people.

Since the Chinese were officially plugged into the virtual community in 1994, the usage of the internet in the country has developed at an incredible rate. By the end of 2008, there were approximately 298 million netizens in China, a number which surpasses that of the U.S. and ranks China the highest user in the world. The rapid development of the online Chinese community has not only boosted the information flow among citizens across the territory, but has also created a new form of social interaction between the state, the media, various professionals and intellectuals, as well as China's ordinary citizens. Although the subject of this book is online Chinese nationalism, which to a certain extent is seen as a pro-regime phenomenon, the emergence of an online civil society in China intrinsically provides some form of supervision of state power-perhaps even a check on it. The fact that the party-state has made use of this social interaction, while at the same time remaining worried about the negative impact of the same netizens, is a fundamental characteristic of the nature of the relationship between the state and the internet community. Many questions arise when considering the internet and Chinese nationalism. Which are the most important internet sites carrying online discussion of nationalism related to the author's particular area of study? What are the differences between online nationalism and the conventional form of nationalism, and why do these differences exist? Has nationalist online expression influenced actual foreign policy making? Has nationalist online expression influenced discourse in the mainstream mass media in China? Have there been any counter reactions towards online nationalism? Where do they come from? Online Chinese Nationalism and China's Bilateral Relations seeks to address these questions.

With contributions from mainland China, Singapore, India, the United States, and Europe.Part I Proactive and Reactive Stances towards the Internet -Internet in China and Southeast Asia1. The Internet and Civil Society in China and Southeast Asia. Shanthi Kalathil, pp. 31-462. Telecom Taxonomy: How are the One Party States of East Asia Controlling the Political Impact of the Internet? Nina Hachigian, pp. 47-80Part II Social and Economical Impacts3. Digital Divide and E-Learning - Chances and Problems in China's Approach. Junhua Zhang, pp. 81-1084. The Reality and Potential of Online Trading in China. Haifeng Huang / Ren Ma / Lin Jian / John Liang, pp. 109-1205. Internet Use in China - A Comparative Analysis. Guo Liang / Bu Wei, pp. 121-144Part III Globalization and the Clash of Civilizations6. Accession to the WTO and the Development of China's Digital Media. Xupei Sun, pp. 145-1647. The Internet Transforms China into an "Open Society". Martin Woesler, pp. 165-187Part IV Nation-Building and Information Warfare8. Assessing China ́s Efforts in Constructing an e-government. Peter Lovelock / John Ure, pp. 187-2119. Is the "wolf" coming? - An empirical study on cultural in-formation spread on Chinese websites. Peng Lan, 212-23010. Technology, Markets and Nation-Building in Chinese Cyber-space. Christopher R. Hughes, pp. 231-246.11. Between Rhetoric and Reality - A Critical Examination of the Theories and Praxis of Information Warfare in China in the Light of Post-Iraq War 2003. Junhua Zhang, pp. 247-270.Part V Governance and Information Policy12. Development of E-government in China - Present Status, Problems, and Future. Xinjiao Tan, pp. 271-294.13. Internet Censorship Focus: 'Human Rights not found' in the Chinese Web. Martin Woesler, pp. 295-325Index etc.

The Internet and social media are pervasive and transformative forces in contemporary China. Nearly half of China's 1.3 billion citizens use the Internet, and tens of millions use Sina Weibo, a platform similar to Twitter or Facebook. Recently, Weixin/Wechat has become another major form of social media. While these services have allowed regular people to share information and opinions as never before, they also have changed the ways in which the Chinese authorities communicate with the people they rule. China's party-state now invests heavily in speaking to Chinese citizens through the Internet and social media, as well as controlling the speech that occurs in that space. At the same time, those authorities are wary of the Internet's ability to undermine the ruling party's power, organize dissent, or foment disorder. Nevertheless, policy debates and public discourse in China now regularly occur online, to an extent unimaginable a decade or two ago, profoundly altering the fabric of China's civil society, legal affairs, internal politics, and foreign relations. The Internet, Social Media, and a Changing China explores the changing relationship between China's cyberspace and its society, politics, legal system, and foreign relations. The chapters focus on three major policy areas—civil society, the roles of law, and the nationalist turn in Chinese foreign policy—and cover topics such as the Internet and authoritarianism, "uncivil society" online, empowerment through new media, civic engagement and digital activism, regulating speech in the age of the Internet, how the Internet affects public opinion, legal cases, and foreign policy, and how new media affects the relationship between Beijing and Chinese people abroad. Contributors: Anne S. Y. Cheung, Rogier Creemers, Jacques deLisle, Avery Goldstein, Peter Gries, Min Jiang, Dalei Jie, Ya-Wen Lei, James Reilly, Zengzhi Shi, Derek Steiger, Marina Svensson, Wang Tao, Guobin Yang, Chuanjie Zhang, Daniel Xiaodan Zhou.

As China rises as an economic and an international power, new relationships are being forged with all areas of the world including Central and Eastern Europe. This book explores how this relationship is developing. It considers how China’s links with Central and Eastern Europe fit in to China’s overall international relations strategies. It looks at economic and trade ties, diplomatic initiatives and the role of the European Union, and examines China’s bilateral relations with the different states of the region. These relationships are particularly interesting because before the end of communism in Eastern Europe China had many direct links with the countries of the region.

The recent rise in reported public security issues in China is one of the most repeated concerns amongst the Chinese authorities. During the past 30 years of reform in China, stability maintenance as a governance strategy has in fact laid a solid foundation for the overall development and growth of the nation. However, it remains to be seen whether this approach can sustain economic growth as well as political stability in the near future. This book examines this policy of stability maintenance, as adopted by the Chinese government, in different social circumstances. Using a variety of examples, including hospital disputes, incidents of environmental pollution, food safety issues and disaster settlements, it takes a multi-disciplinary approach, using empirical data to assess the true picture of contentious politics in China. Although stability maintenance has played a major role in confronting many of the serious challenges posed to China’s public security, ultimately, the book concludes that as a governance strategy it can only be short-term and will surely be replaced, due to its high costs. Using case studies from across China, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, Political Science and Sociology. It will also appeal to journalists and policy analysts with an interest in Chinese politics and society.