Networked China: Global Dynamics of Digital Media and Civic Engagement

Wenhong Chen is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Texas Austin where she studies implications of digital media and communication technologies. Stephen D. Reese is professor of Journalism and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the College of Communication at the University of Texas Austin.

China is a networked society, where people and organizations maneuver through their relationships. Information flows through complex networks that encompass both mass media and social media. This fascinating book scans wide and digs deep to show how. Barry Wellman, director of NetLab, University of TorontoIt has been twenty years since China joined the unfolding Internet era, and this volume helps to document the remarkable developments of this generation. Twenty years ago, scholars and policy makers were asking if China, with its cautious approach to information and information technologies, would be able to fully embrace the Internet. Ten years ago, those analysts were asking if the network would change China. This volume demonstrates that China has more than embraced the network; it has indeed changed it, and that many of the most important on- and off-ramps of that superhighway are written in Chinese. Randy Kluver, Associate Professor, Texas A&M UniversityThis is, of no doubt, a definite book for Chinese Internet research. The authors have examined cyber-China and its political dynamics from multiple vantage points, using solid quantitative and qualitative data, applying both traditional and the latest digital methods. The result is systematic and comparative, informative and nuanced. Jack Qiu, Associate Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong

• ForewordGuobin YangPrefaceIntroductionA New Agenda: Digital Media and Civic Engagement in Networked ChinaWenhong Chen and Stephen D. ReesePART I. Digital Media Technologies and Civic Engagement: Implications, Conditions, and Contradictions 1Internet Use, Socio-Geographic Context and Citizenship Engagement: A Multilevel Model on the Democratizing Effects of the Internet in ChinaBaohua Zhou2Networked Anti-Corruption: Actors, Styles and MechanismsJia Dai, Fanxu Zeng, and Xin Yu3Memetic Engagement as Middle Path Resistance: Contesting Mainland Chinese Immigration and Social CohesionPauline Hope Cheong and Yashu Chen4Engaging Government for Environmental Collective Action: Political Implications of ICTs in Rural ChinaRong Wang5Mobile Activism and Contentious Politics in Contemporary ChinaJun Liu6Campaigning on Weibo: Independent Candidates' Use of Social Media in Local People's Congress Elections in ChinaFei ShenPART II. Glocalized Media Space: Emergence, Composition, and Function7The Unintended Consequences of Deliberative Discourse: A Democratic Attempt for HIV NGOs in ChinaSamuel Galler8The Importance of "Bridges" in the Global News Arena: A Network Study of Bridge Blogs about ChinaNan Zheng9Online Political Discussion in English and Chinese: The Case of Bo XilaiEricka Menchen-Trevino and Yuping Mao10Fandom of Foreign Reality TV Shows in the Chinese Cyber SphereWeiyu Zhang and Lize Zhang11The New Political of Mediated Activism in China: A Critical ReviewElaine Yuan