Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/1868102621992144
Christian Göbel, Jie Li
Why do Chinese governments at various levels set up public complaint websites where citizen petitions and government responses can be reviewed by the general public? We argue that it is the result of two factors: strong signals sent by the central government to improve governance, and the availability of new technologies to promote policy innovation. To impress their superiors, local officials adopted newly available commercial technology to innovate existing citizen feedback systems, which presented a developmental trajectory from “openness,” “integration,” to “big data-driven prediction.” Drawing on policy documents and interviews with local politicians and administrators, we provide a chronological perspective of how technical development, central government’s signals and local decision-making have interacted in the past two decades to bring forth today’s public complaint websites. The contingent and non-teleological nature of this development can also be applied to other policies such as the social credit system.
{"title":"From Bulletin Boards to Big Data","authors":"Christian Göbel, Jie Li","doi":"10.1177/1868102621992144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102621992144","url":null,"abstract":"Why do Chinese governments at various levels set up public complaint websites where citizen petitions and government responses can be reviewed by the general public? We argue that it is the result of two factors: strong signals sent by the central government to improve governance, and the availability of new technologies to promote policy innovation. To impress their superiors, local officials adopted newly available commercial technology to innovate existing citizen feedback systems, which presented a developmental trajectory from “openness,” “integration,” to “big data-driven prediction.” Drawing on policy documents and interviews with local politicians and administrators, we provide a chronological perspective of how technical development, central government’s signals and local decision-making have interacted in the past two decades to bring forth today’s public complaint websites. The contingent and non-teleological nature of this development can also be applied to other policies such as the social credit system.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"96 1","pages":"39 - 62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85890917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/18681026211001884
Barbara Schulte, Marina Svensson
This special issue approaches information and communication technologies (ICT) visions and their realisation/implementation at various levels, among different actors and from various perspectives. Conceptually, we distinguish three different dimensions, even though those overlap in the individual contributions as well as in empirical reality – namely ideational, instrumental, and relational. The different contributions address both visions formulated by the Chinese state and by individual actors such as entrepreneurs. Even though the conditions for the use of ICT in China are deeply affected by state governance, this governance is in no way tantamount to one single government. As this issue’s contributions show, state attempts at building a stable cyber-governance are in need of allies and, depending on the allies’ visions and other, competitive visions, the outcomes of these dynamics are seldom truthful realisations of one original grand masterplan.
{"title":"Of Visions and Visionaries: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in China","authors":"Barbara Schulte, Marina Svensson","doi":"10.1177/18681026211001884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681026211001884","url":null,"abstract":"This special issue approaches information and communication technologies (ICT) visions and their realisation/implementation at various levels, among different actors and from various perspectives. Conceptually, we distinguish three different dimensions, even though those overlap in the individual contributions as well as in empirical reality – namely ideational, instrumental, and relational. The different contributions address both visions formulated by the Chinese state and by individual actors such as entrepreneurs. Even though the conditions for the use of ICT in China are deeply affected by state governance, this governance is in no way tantamount to one single government. As this issue’s contributions show, state attempts at building a stable cyber-governance are in need of allies and, depending on the allies’ visions and other, competitive visions, the outcomes of these dynamics are seldom truthful realisations of one original grand masterplan.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"66 1","pages":"3 - 11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76877450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/1868102621991558
Marina Svensson
This article analyses the visions, careers, and companies of Jack Ma of Alibaba and Geng Le of Blue City. Jack Ma is a well-known business leader and visionary, whereas the less well-known Geng Le only began to receive more attention since launching a successful gay dating app in 2012. The article focuses on the personal narratives and visions of these two IT entrepreneurs. It provides new perspectives on the role of individual entrepreneurs in relation to the Chinese state’s global ambitions and vision of creating a “strong internet country.” It argues that the commercialisation and platformisation of the Chinese internet, and the growing transnational nature of Chinese IT companies, serve to make them more, not less, co-dependent of the state and its visions. The internet’s emancipatory potential is today increasingly conflated with consumption, and online spaces and social relations are subject to both commodification and datafication.
{"title":"“Crazy Jack” and the “Gay CEO”: Visions, Entrepreneurship, and the Chinese State in the New Digital Economy","authors":"Marina Svensson","doi":"10.1177/1868102621991558","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102621991558","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses the visions, careers, and companies of Jack Ma of Alibaba and Geng Le of Blue City. Jack Ma is a well-known business leader and visionary, whereas the less well-known Geng Le only began to receive more attention since launching a successful gay dating app in 2012. The article focuses on the personal narratives and visions of these two IT entrepreneurs. It provides new perspectives on the role of individual entrepreneurs in relation to the Chinese state’s global ambitions and vision of creating a “strong internet country.” It argues that the commercialisation and platformisation of the Chinese internet, and the growing transnational nature of Chinese IT companies, serve to make them more, not less, co-dependent of the state and its visions. The internet’s emancipatory potential is today increasingly conflated with consumption, and online spaces and social relations are subject to both commodification and datafication.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"50 1","pages":"63 - 85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79696457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/1868102621993134
Annika Pissin
This article addresses issues surrounding the social construction of internet addiction, focusing on conceptualisations of reality, escape, hope, and time. Drawing on a critical realist account of semiosis, the framing of internet addiction in China is analysed using the documentary film Web Junkie as an empirical pivot and point of departure. A contextual overview of relations, interests, and tensions surrounding youth and the internet in China is provided, and the film Web Junkie is briefly presented. The main body of the article consists of a critical analysis of conceptualisations of “reality” and “escape.” The core tension focused on in the analysis is the struggle over time, necessitating engagement with critical thought on hope and utopia. The analysis concludes that struggles over temporal autonomy underlie conflicting claims about “reality” and “escape” that are central to “internet addiction” and its treatment in China today.
{"title":"The Social Construction of Internet Addiction in China: Youth between Reality and Temporal Autonomy in the Documentary Web Junkie","authors":"Annika Pissin","doi":"10.1177/1868102621993134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102621993134","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses issues surrounding the social construction of internet addiction, focusing on conceptualisations of reality, escape, hope, and time. Drawing on a critical realist account of semiosis, the framing of internet addiction in China is analysed using the documentary film Web Junkie as an empirical pivot and point of departure. A contextual overview of relations, interests, and tensions surrounding youth and the internet in China is provided, and the film Web Junkie is briefly presented. The main body of the article consists of a critical analysis of conceptualisations of “reality” and “escape.” The core tension focused on in the analysis is the struggle over time, necessitating engagement with critical thought on hope and utopia. The analysis concludes that struggles over temporal autonomy underlie conflicting claims about “reality” and “escape” that are central to “internet addiction” and its treatment in China today.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"18 1","pages":"86 - 105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72706899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-24DOI: 10.1177/1868102621998084
Stefan Brehm
This study seeks to explain how Chinese state media bolster the use of visions in global internet governance. The empirical data for the article consist of 1,158 internet-related articles published in the Global Times between 2009 and 2018. I develop a theoretical perspective that distinguishes between grand and strategic narratives. Based on a mixed-methods approach, I show that “internet sovereignty” has qualified as a grand narrative since the second half of 2013. State media facilitate this shift with strategic narratives that push the content and context of “internet sovereignty” from domestic political rationales towards a matter of global affairs. The article contributes to theoretical and methodological advancement in textual analysis.
{"title":"Whose Vision Is It Anyway? The “Free Internet” in Chinese State Media","authors":"Stefan Brehm","doi":"10.1177/1868102621998084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102621998084","url":null,"abstract":"This study seeks to explain how Chinese state media bolster the use of visions in global internet governance. The empirical data for the article consist of 1,158 internet-related articles published in the Global Times between 2009 and 2018. I develop a theoretical perspective that distinguishes between grand and strategic narratives. Based on a mixed-methods approach, I show that “internet sovereignty” has qualified as a grand narrative since the second half of 2013. State media facilitate this shift with strategic narratives that push the content and context of “internet sovereignty” from domestic political rationales towards a matter of global affairs. The article contributes to theoretical and methodological advancement in textual analysis.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"28 5 1","pages":"12 - 38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77977249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-24DOI: 10.1177/1868102621993487
Jan Knoerich, L. Mouan, Charlotte Goodburn
While China’s experience of using special economic zones (SEZs) for advancing economic development is a model increasingly adopted in other developing countries, the processes involved in replicating this model elsewhere and the outcomes of such replication remain little understood. This review article’s nested examination of three relevant strands of literature and two case studies of India and Ethiopia indicates that successful replication of China’s SEZ-led development would involve deliberate processes of adaptation from the original model. Replication must be “smart,” by taking into account the temporal, systemic, and other discrepancies between the Chinese model and the replicating country; replicating the benefits of China’s approach whilst avoiding the drawbacks; and maximising the positive effects of direct Chinese involvement and investments while reducing negative repercussions.
{"title":"Is China’s Model of SEZ-Led Development Viable? A Call for Smart Replication","authors":"Jan Knoerich, L. Mouan, Charlotte Goodburn","doi":"10.1177/1868102621993487","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102621993487","url":null,"abstract":"While China’s experience of using special economic zones (SEZs) for advancing economic development is a model increasingly adopted in other developing countries, the processes involved in replicating this model elsewhere and the outcomes of such replication remain little understood. This review article’s nested examination of three relevant strands of literature and two case studies of India and Ethiopia indicates that successful replication of China’s SEZ-led development would involve deliberate processes of adaptation from the original model. Replication must be “smart,” by taking into account the temporal, systemic, and other discrepancies between the Chinese model and the replicating country; replicating the benefits of China’s approach whilst avoiding the drawbacks; and maximising the positive effects of direct Chinese involvement and investments while reducing negative repercussions.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"46 47 1","pages":"248 - 262"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79398905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-07DOI: 10.1177/1868102621989717
Jackson Paul Neagli
This article explores a facet of the Chinese propaganda apparatus that has yet to receive sufficient academic attention: the murky ecosystem of “semi-official” party-state presences on Chinese social media. With a particular focus on WeChat public accounts, this investigation responds to two critical research questions: first, what differentiates official party-state social media presences from semi-official presences, and second, what unique role do semi-official WeChat accounts play in the contemporary Chinese propaganda apparatus? This article samples content published by five dyads of official and semi-official WeChat public accounts during the first fifteen days of June 2019. The results of this comparative, case-study-based discourse analysis support two conclusions. First, semi-official WeChat accounts posture as independent from the party-state in order to attract large followings and gain credibility. Second, semi-official WeChat public accounts operate as “astroturfed influencers,” enabling the Chinese propaganda apparatus to covertly manipulate online discourse with extraordinary efficiency.
{"title":"Grassroots, Astroturf, or Something in Between? Semi-Official WeChat Accounts as Covert Vectors of Party-State Influence in Contemporary China","authors":"Jackson Paul Neagli","doi":"10.1177/1868102621989717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102621989717","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores a facet of the Chinese propaganda apparatus that has yet to receive sufficient academic attention: the murky ecosystem of “semi-official” party-state presences on Chinese social media. With a particular focus on WeChat public accounts, this investigation responds to two critical research questions: first, what differentiates official party-state social media presences from semi-official presences, and second, what unique role do semi-official WeChat accounts play in the contemporary Chinese propaganda apparatus? This article samples content published by five dyads of official and semi-official WeChat public accounts during the first fifteen days of June 2019. The results of this comparative, case-study-based discourse analysis support two conclusions. First, semi-official WeChat accounts posture as independent from the party-state in order to attract large followings and gain credibility. Second, semi-official WeChat public accounts operate as “astroturfed influencers,” enabling the Chinese propaganda apparatus to covertly manipulate online discourse with extraordinary efficiency.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"207 1","pages":"180 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75685627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-01DOI: 10.1177/18681026211004955
Björn Alpermann
China’s urbanisation drive has been unprecedented in scale. It has also produced some paradoxical outcomes and led to multiple interconnections between the rural and the urban spheres. These interconnections are the central focus of this special issue. Thus, preference is given to the term “rural–urban transformation” instead of simply “urbanisation.” The main argument advanced here is that we always need to consider the rural aspects and repercussions alongside the urban side of this dual process. This introduction first highlights some of these antinomies to set the stage for the discussion. Next, it explains how they relate to changing mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion. It is proposed that a theoretical approach of functional differentiation can help us sort out the various ways inclusions and exclusions are being produced and combined. Finally, the introduction presents an overview of the articles collected in this special issue and how they relate to the aforementioned topics.
{"title":"China’s Rural–Urban Transformation: New Forms of Inclusion and Exclusion","authors":"Björn Alpermann","doi":"10.1177/18681026211004955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681026211004955","url":null,"abstract":"China’s urbanisation drive has been unprecedented in scale. It has also produced some paradoxical outcomes and led to multiple interconnections between the rural and the urban spheres. These interconnections are the central focus of this special issue. Thus, preference is given to the term “rural–urban transformation” instead of simply “urbanisation.” The main argument advanced here is that we always need to consider the rural aspects and repercussions alongside the urban side of this dual process. This introduction first highlights some of these antinomies to set the stage for the discussion. Next, it explains how they relate to changing mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion. It is proposed that a theoretical approach of functional differentiation can help us sort out the various ways inclusions and exclusions are being produced and combined. Finally, the introduction presents an overview of the articles collected in this special issue and how they relate to the aforementioned topics.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"10 1","pages":"259 - 268"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90726054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-14DOI: 10.1177/1868102620912094
Michael Malzer
As urbanisation strategies have been adopted throughout China in recent years, it has become increasingly relevant to study their implementation processes in so-called lower-tier cities away from the well-known regions. Urbanisation has given rise to different types of settlements for landless peasants: planned resettlement neighbourhoods, as well as more or less accidentally grown urban villages. While resettlement is widely adopted and positively propagated, urban villages are usually only seen as soon-to-be demolished “non-places” and their residents are often stigmatised. This article focuses on a case in Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region. It analyses the demolition process of Yingnan village and its lead-up and finds that despite this general discursive framework, exposure on a local TV show and low scores on a national “civilised cities” ranking pressured the local government to not ignore Yingnan village as merely a “non-place” but to invest in better sanitary conditions and speed up redevelopment.
{"title":"The Rural–Urban Fringes in the Local Limelight: Urban Village Redevelopment in Yinchuan, Ningxia","authors":"Michael Malzer","doi":"10.1177/1868102620912094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102620912094","url":null,"abstract":"As urbanisation strategies have been adopted throughout China in recent years, it has become increasingly relevant to study their implementation processes in so-called lower-tier cities away from the well-known regions. Urbanisation has given rise to different types of settlements for landless peasants: planned resettlement neighbourhoods, as well as more or less accidentally grown urban villages. While resettlement is widely adopted and positively propagated, urban villages are usually only seen as soon-to-be demolished “non-places” and their residents are often stigmatised. This article focuses on a case in Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region. It analyses the demolition process of Yingnan village and its lead-up and finds that despite this general discursive framework, exposure on a local TV show and low scores on a national “civilised cities” ranking pressured the local government to not ignore Yingnan village as merely a “non-place” but to invest in better sanitary conditions and speed up redevelopment.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"10 1","pages":"357 - 377"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83666134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-14DOI: 10.1177/1868102620914998
Florian Thünken
Since 2014 the Chinese state has been pushing for “new-style urbanisation.” Its main goals are accelerated urban–rural integration, development of small-to-medium cities and towns, and a “people-centered” urbanisation, all while limiting movement towards big cities. Similar reforms have been experimented with in Chongqing since 2007. This article argues that we need to take both top-down and bottom-up processes into view if we are to understand completely the intricate transformation currently underway in China’s urbanising society. Thus, policies and programmes at the national and provincial level are examined and then contrasted with findings from field research, that has been conducted in Chongqing’s urbanising hinterland. Findings show patterns of rural-to-urban transitioning which apparently match the central and municipal governments’ plans, but further evidence points to the rejection or modification of state-led urbanisation efforts and towards an urbanisation on the people’s own terms.
{"title":"Rural-to-Urban Transition in Chongqing’s Hinterland: State-Led Urbanisation or Urbanisation From Below?","authors":"Florian Thünken","doi":"10.1177/1868102620914998","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102620914998","url":null,"abstract":"Since 2014 the Chinese state has been pushing for “new-style urbanisation.” Its main goals are accelerated urban–rural integration, development of small-to-medium cities and towns, and a “people-centered” urbanisation, all while limiting movement towards big cities. Similar reforms have been experimented with in Chongqing since 2007. This article argues that we need to take both top-down and bottom-up processes into view if we are to understand completely the intricate transformation currently underway in China’s urbanising society. Thus, policies and programmes at the national and provincial level are examined and then contrasted with findings from field research, that has been conducted in Chongqing’s urbanising hinterland. Findings show patterns of rural-to-urban transitioning which apparently match the central and municipal governments’ plans, but further evidence points to the rejection or modification of state-led urbanisation efforts and towards an urbanisation on the people’s own terms.","PeriodicalId":37907,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Chinese Affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":"312 - 331"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89587351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}