Internet in China

Series of articles from a symposium on the sociology of internet usage in China:

• The Internet in China: A Symposium / Randolph Kluver
• Mingling Politics with Play: The Virtual Chinese Public Sphere / Guobin Yang . The internet is a venue for socializing, joking, bantering. The fun part lures people back, while politics gets its fair share of attention along the way. One reason why the internet seems to be producing some very interesting politics in China is that it is fun place to go. If it is a public sphere, it is one that mingles politics with play
• The Taste of Information: State Attempts to Control the Internet / Lokman Tsui. Information in China still comes in one flavour only, that of the Party-State.
• Handing over China's Internet to the Corporations / Ian Weber & Lu Jia. Looks at the promotion of self-regulation within the commercial sector using the 2002 Public Pledge on Self discipline for China’s Internet Industry as a mechanism for standardization and self-censorship
• Internet and the Fragmented Political Community / Jens Damm. The internet may have an important role as a catalyst for the spreading of actual information, but in times of crisis the general usage patterns may change. For the time being, however, the internet has only a limited influence on emerging political discourses in China and has much more importance as a tool for lifestyle communications with a very personalized use. In addition, there is an increased use of the internet by the general population, which is also leading to the depoliticization of the Net, since even today the political discourses in China are largely restricted to intellectual circles.