The Internet in China : From Infrastructure to a Nascent Civil Society

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. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxvii Introduction (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 1-4 Studying the Internet in China. Relevance of the Topic (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 5-17 A Historical Overview of the Media Political Economy of the Internet in China (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 19-88 How Chinese People Use the Internet (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 89-142 BBSs and Blogs: The First Participatory Online Spaces (2003–2008) (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 143-158 2008–2011: From the Social Network Services Copycats’ Struggle to Sina Weibo (the Most Popular Microblogging Platform) (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 159-191 The Development of Mobile Internet. Weixin (WeChat): A Killer Application for Sina Weibo? (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 193-208 Conclusions (Gianluigi Negro)....Pages 209-218 Back Matter ....Pages 219-247 Annotation This text 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