{"id":2031,"date":"2015-08-24T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T08:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/?p=2031"},"modified":"2024-02-28T09:36:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T08:36:00","slug":"chinas-info-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s Info-Web"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Beijing governs online political communication about Japan<\/h2>\n

In digital China, networked actors ranging from state agencies to private Internet users engage in highly active online discourse. Yet as diverse as this discourse may be, political content on China\u2019s web remains highly regulated, particularly on issues affecting the legitimacy of the ruling party.<\/p>\n

The PRC\u2019s authorities have long realized that control over communication is vital to\u00a0a successful governance strategy, and they consequently deploy a sophisticated system\u00a0of hard and soft controls to manage political discourse.\u00a0This is true for cultural expressions that might constitute \u2018ideological\u00a0challenges\u2019 to Chinese sovereignty or cultural identity, but it is particularly true for political\u00a0issues such as current affairs or international relations topics \u2013 issues that, to the\u00a0Chinese leadership, are often matters of national security. This importance that Chinese\u00a0leaders attribute to political discourse raises the question of what strategies inform their\u00a0attempts to assert sovereignty over digital communication. What does the CCP\u2019s political\u00a0communication approach to digital media look like?<\/p>\n

To explore this issue, this article examines how a particularly important topic in\u00a0Chinese politics is presented on China\u2019s web: the relation between China and Japan. By\u00a0examining two specific Sino-Japanese issues, it asks what Chinese websites and the digital\u00a0networks they are embedded in can tell us about the way that different actors construct\u00a0and manage such a crucial political discourse.<\/p>\n

Combining content analysis and digital tools, the article shows how the authorities apply a Leninist mass-communication logic to the web, treating websites not as spaces for networked social interaction but as authoritative information sources that broadcast approved content to a mass audience, which effectively turns the internet into an ‘info-web’ and brings digital media into the fold of China\u2019s \u2018traditional\u2019 mass-media system.<\/p>\n

This research was made possible with the generous support of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)<\/a>, through a VENI\u00a0grant for the project \u2018Digital Nationalism in China<\/a>\u2019 (grant 016.134.054).<\/p>\n

How to reference this article<\/h3>\n

Schneider, Florian (2015), ‘China’s “Info-Web”: How Beijing Governs Online Political Communication about Japan’. New Media & Society<\/em>, First View.<\/p>\n

[button text=”Article via Sage Journals” link=”http:\/\/nms.sagepub.com\/content\/early\/2015\/08\/20\/1461444815600379?papetoc”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article examines how Chinese websites shape online discourse on two Japan issues (the Nanjing Massacre and the East China Sea conflict), and what these sites can tell us about the leadership\u2019s strategy for managing digital communication. It finds that the authorities apply a Leninist mass-communication logic to the web, turning the internet into an ‘info-web’ that brings digital media into the fold of China\u2019s \u2018traditional\u2019 mass-media system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,56],"tags":[43,148,149,64,150,109,60,152,153,151],"class_list":["post-2031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-nationalism","category-publications","tag-china","tag-cultural-governance","tag-digital-methods","tag-discourse","tag-east-china-sea","tag-internet","tag-japan","tag-nanjing-massacre","tag-network-analysis","tag-politics","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\nChina\u2019s Info-Web - Politics East Asia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This article examines what websites about Japan can tell us about China's attempts to manage the internet and turn it into an info-web.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China\u2019s Info-Web - Politics East Asia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article examines what websites about Japan can tell us about China's attempts to manage the internet and turn it into an info-web.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Politics East Asia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-24T08:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-28T08:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"950\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Florian Schneider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Florian Schneider\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Florian Schneider\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a140bd5ce2c4c52fdeb2b628bc80a1bb\"},\"headline\":\"China\u2019s Info-Web\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-24T08:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-28T08:36:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":365,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"China\",\"cultural governance\",\"digital methods\",\"discourse\",\"East China Sea\",\"Internet\",\"Japan\",\"Nanjing Massacre\",\"Network Analysis\",\"politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Digital Nationalism\",\"Publications\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/\",\"name\":\"China\u2019s Info-Web - Politics East Asia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-24T08:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-28T08:36:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a140bd5ce2c4c52fdeb2b628bc80a1bb\"},\"description\":\"This article examines what websites about Japan can tell us about China's attempts to manage the internet and turn it into an info-web.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/research\\\/digital-nationalism\\\/chinas-info-web\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg\",\"width\":950,\"height\":480},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/\",\"name\":\"Politics East Asia\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a140bd5ce2c4c52fdeb2b628bc80a1bb\",\"name\":\"Florian Schneider\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2e3eb496e0894d5a7646b6f4c63b6a341002e4920ea28a86f5b50bfaa26984ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2e3eb496e0894d5a7646b6f4c63b6a341002e4920ea28a86f5b50bfaa26984ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2e3eb496e0894d5a7646b6f4c63b6a341002e4920ea28a86f5b50bfaa26984ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Florian Schneider\"},\"description\":\"Florian is the editor of PoliticsEastAsia.com. He is Professor of Modern China at Leiden University, editor of the journal Asiascape: Digital Asia, and academic director of the Leiden Asia Centre.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.politicseastasia.com\\\/staging\\\/3558\\\/author\\\/schneiderfa\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"China\u2019s Info-Web - Politics East Asia","description":"This article examines what websites about Japan can tell us about China's attempts to manage the internet and turn it into an info-web.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"China\u2019s Info-Web - Politics East Asia","og_description":"This article examines what websites about Japan can tell us about China's attempts to manage the internet and turn it into an info-web.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/","og_site_name":"Politics East Asia","article_published_time":"2015-08-24T08:00:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-28T08:36:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":950,"height":480,"url":"http:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Florian Schneider","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Florian Schneider","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/"},"author":{"name":"Florian Schneider","@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/#\/schema\/person\/a140bd5ce2c4c52fdeb2b628bc80a1bb"},"headline":"China\u2019s Info-Web","datePublished":"2015-08-24T08:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-28T08:36:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/"},"wordCount":365,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg","keywords":["China","cultural governance","digital methods","discourse","East China Sea","Internet","Japan","Nanjing Massacre","Network Analysis","politics"],"articleSection":["Digital Nationalism","Publications"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/","url":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/","name":"China\u2019s Info-Web - Politics East Asia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg","datePublished":"2015-08-24T08:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-28T08:36:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/#\/schema\/person\/a140bd5ce2c4c52fdeb2b628bc80a1bb"},"description":"This article examines what websites about Japan can tell us about China's attempts to manage the internet and turn it into an info-web.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/research\/digital-nationalism\/chinas-info-web\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Publ_NMS_950x480opt-1.jpg","width":950,"height":480},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/","name":"Politics East Asia","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/#\/schema\/person\/a140bd5ce2c4c52fdeb2b628bc80a1bb","name":"Florian Schneider","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e3eb496e0894d5a7646b6f4c63b6a341002e4920ea28a86f5b50bfaa26984ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e3eb496e0894d5a7646b6f4c63b6a341002e4920ea28a86f5b50bfaa26984ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e3eb496e0894d5a7646b6f4c63b6a341002e4920ea28a86f5b50bfaa26984ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Florian Schneider"},"description":"Florian is the editor of PoliticsEastAsia.com. He is Professor of Modern China at Leiden University, editor of the journal Asiascape: Digital Asia, and academic director of the Leiden Asia Centre.","url":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/author\/schneiderfa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2031"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3091,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions\/3091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicseastasia.com\/staging\/3558\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}