The Internet Society In China

This book provides a cutting edge analysis of the rapid rise of China’s network society and reviews recent key developments within China’s internet economy, notably the concepts of “Lucky Money” and E-Business on Wechat, and Crowd-Funding Platforms. It focuses on drawing out the sociological impact of these economic developments, examining among others the bearing of the decentralization of e-business in rural areas. It offers a vital sociological perspective on the development of China’s internet society and how it affects social and professional relations, examining the shift from the traditional Red Envelope Giving Culture to Digital Red Envelope, micro charity 2.0 as well as the Rise of Internet Crowd Funding in China. Combining an up to date analysis of the current state of play of China’s internet society with expertise in the rapidly changing landscape of China’s social media, this book provides key insights into how technology impacts on the communication and movement of population in China, in both social and economic spheres.

Exploring online privacy, cyber-nationalism, and the network market, this book details the crucial and evolving role played by the Internet in present-day China.

This book aims to identify the most important political, socio-economic, and technical determinants of Internet development in China, through a historical approach that combines political economy, cultural, and public studies. Firstly, the book looks at the most important strategies that compelled the Chinese government to invest in the construction of the Internet infrastructure. Secondly, it examines the relationships between the development of the Internet in China and the emergence of a nascent civil society. Finally, attention is given to three different Chinese online platforms in three different historical periods. This three-pronged approach presents a coherent set of analyses and case studies which are committed to the investigation of the complex process of change undergone by Internet development in China.

This book discusses the rich and varied culture of China's online society, and its impact on offline China. It argues that the internet in China is a separate 'space' in which individuals and institutions emerge and interact. While offline and online spaces are connected and influence each other, the Chinese internet is more than merely a technological or media extension of offline Chinese society. Instead of following existing studies by locating online China in offline society, the contributors in this book discuss the carnival of the Chinese internet on its own terms. Examining the complex relationship between government officials and the people using the Internet in China, this book demonstrates that culture is highly influential in how technology is used. Discussing a wide range of different activities, the contributors examine what Chinese people actually do on the internet, and how their actions can be interpreted within the online society they are creating.

Will new technologies, especially the Internet, bring freedom and democracy to authoritarian China? This book argues that the internet has brought new dynamics of sociopolitical change in China, not always supportive of democracy.

The Chinese internet is driving change across all facets of social life, and scholars have grown mindful that online and offline spaces have become interdependent and inseparable dimensions of social, political, economic, and cultural activity. This book showcases the richness and diversity of Chinese cyberspaces, conceptualizing online and offline China as separate but inter-connected spaces in which a wide array of people and groups act and interact under the gaze of a seemingly monolithic authoritarian state. The cyberspaces comprising "online China" are understood as spaces for interaction and negotiation that influence "offline China". The book argues that these spaces allow their users greater "freedoms" despite ubiquitous control and surveillance by the state authorities. The book is a sequel to the editors’ earlier work, Online Society in China: Creating, Celebrating and Instrumentalising the Online Carnival (Routledge, 2011).