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

by Gianluigi Negro

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319604046
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/19/2017
Edition description:	1st ed. 2017
Pages:	247
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gianluigi Negro is both Post Doctoral Researcher in the Faculty of Communication Sciences and Assistant Editor at China Media Observatory (CMO) at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Switzerland.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. Studying the Internet in China: Relevance of the Topic.- 3. A Historical Overview of the Media Political Economy of the Internet in China.- 4. How Chinese People Use the Internet.- 5. BBSS and Blogs: the First Participatory Online Spaces (2003-2008).- 6. 2008-2011: From the Social Network Services Copycats' Struggle to Sina Weibo (the Most Popular Microblogging Platform).- 7. The Development of Mobile Internet: Weixin (Wechat) a Killer Applicatin for Sina Weibo?.- 8. Conclusions.-

Editorial Reviews

Negro provides a valuable and comprehensive analysis of the co-evolvement of China’s internet infrastructure and its nascent civil society. It is useful for readers to track and understand the changes in China accompanied by internet infrastructure development. The rapid development of internet technologies … creates much room for future research along this line. The cases or phenomena this book analyzes make it very interesting to read.” (Yao Han, AI & SOCIETY, Vol. 39 (3), 2024)

From the Publisher