Definitions and Boundaries of an Online Chinese Public Sphere

9 Pages Posted: 17 May 2010

Date Written: March 1, 2009

Abstract

This paper offers a definition and description of an emerging online Chinese public sphere. It shows that Habermas' "bourgeois public sphere" can be modified slightly to fit the ideology and reality of Chinese political life. In an era of rapid growth of Internet use, a public sphere must also be understood to exist in online spaces. This paper argues that public sphere discourse happens online in a transnational universe of spaces that have diverse regulatory and cultural characteristics.

Keywords: public sphere, China, civil society, Internet

Suggested Citation

Webster, Graham, Definitions and Boundaries of an Online Chinese Public Sphere (March 1, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1576134 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1576134

Graham Webster (Contact Author)

Yale University - Law School ( email )

P.O. Box 208215
New Haven, CT 06520-8215
United States

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