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Online News-Prompted Public Spheres in China

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Xuanzi Xu

    1. Sydney, Australia

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  • Challenges prevailing arguments over China’s digital public spheres

  • Provides a case study of the Covid-19 crisis in China

  • Provides a longitudinal study of China’s most popular social media WeChat

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Introduction

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 1-15

  3. The Theory of News-Prompted Public Spheres and their Features

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 17-35

  4. The Application of Public Sphere Theory in China

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 37-50

  5. Structural Factors Fostering China’s Online News-Prompted Publics

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 51-79

  6. Everyday News-Prompted Publics on WeChat

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 81-110

  7. Surprise

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 111-122

  8. Ephemerality

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 123-138

  9. Networked Public Spheres

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 139-154

  10. Unintended Consequences

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 155-175

  11. Rethinking Online News-Prompted Public Spheres

    • Xuanzi Xu
    Pages 177-192

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 193-200
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Keywords

About this book

This book argues that there are constant formations of online public spheres in present-day China, prompted by never-ending news. It contends that these publics are chronic, although individually they are usually transient. They are networked, which enables them to go viral in hours, and they may engender unexpected consequences. These features explain why online public spheres survive in China even though censorship and information manipulation are pervasively and strategically maneuvered to guide or manufacture “public opinion”. The book also proposes that there are deeply entangled structural factors bolstering China's online news-prompted public spheres: the continuous flow of news information, the countless public spaces facilitated by China’s digital infrastructure and the rise of rights-conscious netizens. Pushing forward a new way of conceptualizing the idea of public spheres, this book contends clearly that public spheres are most often sparked by chronic news in today's media-saturated societies. Delving into the life cycles of public spheres, it goes beyond static analysis of individual public spheres and instead studies their five qualities, which, except for the networked quality, have never been systematically addressed in scholarship. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sydney, Australia

    Xuanzi Xu

About the author

Xuanzi Xu completed her PhD at the University of Sydney, Australia, and her MA at the Sorbonne University, France. Her research focuses on how the everyday news participation of ordinary Chinese Internet users contributes to the formation of online public spheres in China. More broadly, she is interested in the interplay between ICT, civil society and the state, and is keen to explore the political implication of the unfinished information revolution.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Online News-Prompted Public Spheres in China

  • Authors: Xuanzi Xu

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12156-2

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-12155-5Published: 26 October 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-12158-6Published: 26 October 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-12156-2Published: 25 October 2022

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 200

  • Number of Illustrations: 15 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Digital/New Media, Journalism, Asian Culture, Social Media

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