Resistance in Digital China: The Southern Weekly Incident

Description

By investigating the Southern Weekly Incident, in which the prominent Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly was censored by the provincial government’s official propaganda department, Resistance in Digital China examines how Chinese citizens engage with the internet to facilitate social change and engage in resistance. Chen’s in-depth analysis of the Southern Weekly Incident ties together overlapping debates in internet studies, Chinese studies, social movement studies, political communication, and cultural studies to discuss issues of the public sphere, collective action, connective action, emotions, and embodiment. Resistance in Digital China not only provides a theoretical framework for understanding how the internet may promote civic participation and a democratic culture in China, but also demonstrates a useful methodology for conducting an in-depth empirical examination of a significant on- and off-line act of resistance. Fruitfully combining 45 interviews with key players in the Southern Weekly Incident with largely Western-based communications theory, Chen develops an understanding of the Chinese public sphere as “in formation,” at once invoked and rejected by Chinese citizens. Cover Contents Acknowledgements 1 Introduction: The 2013 Southern Weekly Incident and Resistance in Digital China 2 Meanings of Resistance in Digital China: Connectivity, Embodiment and the Construction of a Chinese Public Sphere 3 The Southern Weekly Incident: Timeline, Investigation and Political Milieu 4 The Southern Weekly Incident Unfolds: From Mobilization to Division 5 Mechanisms of Connectivity and Experience of Embodiment: Identity, Individuality and Memory 6 Implications of the Southern Weekly Incident: Institutional Boundaries, Self-Restriction and Complex Ideologies in China 7 Resistance in Digital China and an Elite-Led, Emotional Chinese Public Sphere: Conclusion and Discussion Appendix A: List of Interviewees Notes References Index