Authoritarian Deliberation
on Chinese Internet
2009 Annenberg/Oxford Summer Institute
July 5-18, 2009
@ University of Oxford
Min Jiang
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication Studies
UNC-Charlotte
Email: mjiang3@uncc.edu

Chinese Internet Population
► 298 million Internet users (CNNIC, 2009)
► 2/3 under age 30
► 162 million bloggers (more than ½ of China’s netizens)
► 700 million mobile phone users (½ of Chinese population)
► 117 million Internet mobile phone users
Photos courtesy of MinnPost.Com, eChinaCities.com

Cyber Censorship and Its Myths
Photo LEFT: Mobinode.com and RIGHT: Wikimedia.org
Images MIDDLE from: http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/15-11/ff_chinafirewall?currentPage=all
http://politicsoffthegrid.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/chinese-bloggers-overpower-the-great-firewall-of-china/

“We Chinese Need to be Controlled”?
Jackie Chan:
Media quoted me out
of context
Dai Qincheng: (HK)
Netizens demand
Jackie Chan be sent
to North Korea
(reprint)
Han Han:
Read the Emperor’s
mind like Jackie Chan
ChinaNet, douban, Sina Blog (April 23, 2009)

Modern Authoritarianism is Deliberative
Patriotism + Legitimacy based on performance
Photo LEFT: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33673641@N00/1251068537
Photo RIGHT: http://rss.xinhuanet.com/newsc/english/2008-05/14/content_8168699.htm

Spaces of Authoritarian Deliberation
► Central propaganda spaces
► Government-regulated commercial spaces
► Emergent civic spaces
► International deliberative spaces

Central Propaganda Spaces 1

Central Propaganda Spaces 2

Central Propaganda Spaces 3
Salary increase is
offset by rise in
housing price
Hundreds of billions of bad
debt is caused by the
banks’ mismanagement of
of state-owned assets. But
average folks eventually
foot the bill.

Central Propaganda Spaces 4
“We pay great attention to
suggestions and advice
from our netizens. We
stress “putting people first”
and “governing for the
people.” Therefore we listen
to people’s voices and
capitalize on people’s
wisdom when we solve
problems and make
decisions. The Internet is
an important channel for us
to know public concerns
and collect public wisdoms.”
- President Hu Jingtao
June 20, 2008
Photo by Li Ke, ChinaNet from http://tv.people.com.cn/GB/7398332.html

Central Propaganda Spaces 5
Public Opinion
Channel
Deng Yujiao Incident:
Self defense or
voluntary manslaughter?
Shoddy Buildings:
Who’s responsible for students’
lives after the quake?

Government-regulated Commercial Spaces 1
Number of Websites under Various Top Applications
Domain Names in China
Domain
Quantity Proportion Online Music (83.7%)
Name
Online News (78.5%)
.CN 2,216,437 77%
Instant Messaging (75%)
.COM 552,898 19.2%
.NET 87,713 3% Search Engine (68%)
.ORG 21,005 0.7% Online Video (67.7%)
Total 2,878,053 100.0% Online Gaming (62.8%)
Source: 23rd CNNIC Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China (January 2009)

Government-regulated Commercial Spaces 2

Government-regulated Commercial Spaces 3
Image TOP LEFT: http://www.leedominic.com/
Image BOTTOM LEFT: XinhuaNet
http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2007-08/29/content_6625132.htm
Image RIGHT: Heredict Q blog http://blog.myneverland.org/archives/844

Government-regulated Commercial Spaces 4
Fatianxia.com shut down
on Dec. 16, 2008.
Reopened, toning down.
Bullog reopens
overseas now.

Government-regulated Commercial Spaces 5
Liu Xiaoyuan:
A young man arrested
for calling his superior
a scum

Emergent Civic Spaces 1

Emergent Civic Spaces 2

Emergent Civic Spaces 3
Noncommercial Web Site
Registration Regulation

Emergent Civic Spaces 4
Image LEFT: ChinaDaily
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-10/24/conten
t_275179.htm
Image TOP RIGHT: Eastwood Zhao.com
http://www.eastwoodzhao.com/stubborn-nail-house-
demolished/

Emergent Civic Spaces 5
Activity Types:
online; meetups
sports; edu/lectures/
study groups
entertainment/games
May 1st. Where /movies
to go? concerts/exhibition
travel
conference
public service
Work experience
project: Wash dishes
at restaurants

International Deliberative Spaces 1

International Deliberative Spaces 2

International Deliberative Spaces 3

International Deliberative Spaces 4
Image BOTTOM: waxy.org by Andy Baio

International Deliberative Spaces 5

Future Research
► Engage reform-minded bureaucrats?
► How to grow China’s emergent civil society?
► Patterns of online information sharing,
civic/political discourse, collective action?
► How to engage China’s digital generations?
► Online authoritarian deliberation’s long-term
impact on civic/political participation?