Contesting Cyberspace in China: Online Expression and Authoritarian Resilience

Rongbin Han

Published by Columbia University Press 2018

Contesting Cyberspace in China

Online Expression and Authoritarian Resilience

Rongbin Han

https://doi.org/10.7312/han-18474

Overview
Contents

About this book

Rongbin Han offers a powerful counterintuitive explanation for China’s survival in the digital age. Han reveals how the state, service providers, and netizens negotiate the limits of discourse, interrogating our assumptions about authoritarian resilience and the internet's democratizing power.

Author / Editor information

Rongbin Han is an assistant professor in the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia.

Reviews

Mary E. Gallagher, University of Michigan:
Contesting Cyberspace in China goes beyond the typical fascination with Chinese censorship and internet controls. It investigates the ways in which social media and online expression are pluralizing political debate in China, giving ample room for fiery nationalists and indignant leftists to attack the regime’s liberal critics. The book is an excellent study of the diversity, drama, and defiance of China’s netizens.

Zheng Yongnian, National University of Singapore:
How has the Internet changed state-society relations in China? How have social groups engaged in a “guerrilla war” with the authorities over cyberspace? And how is the Internet remaking China? In this empirically rich work, Rongbin Han has provided us with a vivid analysis of the interactions between the state and society in China’s cyberspace. Those who are interested in cyber affairs must read this brilliant book.

Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania:
If you are looking for that long-awaited book on China’s Internet censorship, look no further. Rongbin Han’s Contesting Cyberspace in China illuminates the labyrinths of that proverbial cat-and-mouse game with clarity and sophistication. It will be a thought-provoking and rewarding read.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
1. Introduction: Pluralism and Cyberpolitics in China Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Harmonizing the Internet: State Control Over Online Expression Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
3. To Comply or to Resist? The Intermediaries’ Dilemma Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
4. Pop Activism: Playful Netizens in Cyberpolitics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
5. Trolling for the Party: State-Sponsored Internet Commentators Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
6. Manufacturing Distrust: Online Political Opposition and Its Backlash Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
7. Defending the Regime: The “Voluntary Fifty-Cent Army” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
8. Authoritarian Resilience Online: Mismatched Capacity, Miscalculated Threat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Illustrations
- Other: 12 pieces of art.

eBook

Published: September 24, 2018
ISBN: 9780231545655