Abstract
Since 2003, Internet technologies have developed dramatically in China, with the penetration rate steadily rising as such technologies are applied in ever more areas. Not only does the Internet serve as a medium and a platform, but it has also been a vehicle for public life, the catalyst for social reforms, and the microcosm of the current state of democracy in China. The Internet has changed China. In this paper, we examine the major online public incidents that have happened in China between 2003 and 2012 in order to gain a better understanding of how the Internet has changed Chinese society. The Internet has reshaped the communications landscape in China, promoted the establishment of government information transparency mechanisms, promoted advances in the legal system, and changed the ways the public engages in public affairs. The Internet affects individuals in different ways, and at the same time, it is also changing the contours of Chinese society imperceptibly but surely over time.
Principal investigator: Xie Yungeng. Key authors: Li Mingzhe; Chen Wei; Zheng Guangjia.
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Notes
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Li, M., Chen, W., Zheng, G. (2019). The Internet Has Changed China: Ten Years of Online Public Opinion Incidents in China, 2003–2012. In: Xie, Y. (eds) Report on Chinese Social Opinion and Crisis Management. Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4003-0_3
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