Case 3: China’s New Media Paradox: Economic Gains, Political Troubles

Abstract

China is going through an enormous transition, perhaps even a transformation. The ultimate engine of this transformation is economic reform, termed by some as the vigorous revival of a capitalist economy (Winfield, 2005). Yet political reform has not kept pace with economic reform, making China a unique transitional society with a system that has been described as “market authoritarianism” (Winfield, 2005): the co-existence of economic openness and success with comparatively tight political control.