Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Political Communication Chinese Style: The Elite Network in State-Regulated Sina Weibo

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Digital Media and the Politics of Transformation in the Arab World and Asia

Abstract

It is a commonplace among scholars that the Internet plays an increasingly important role in Chinese public life (Hassid, 2012). This includes a strong focus on the articulation of an alternative political discourse (Gleiss, 2015). According to a nationwide survey, typical Chinese netizens are “politically opinionated, supportive of democratic rules and critical about party-state” (Lei, 2011).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 739-768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloomberg. (2001). Hu Shuli. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2001-07-01/hu-shuli

  • Borgatti, S., Everett, M., & Johnson, J. (2013). Analyzing social networks. London [u. a.]: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1985). The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups. Theory & Society, 14(6), 723-744.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, Ronald S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnesecca, C. (2015). Voice of the Masses: The Internet and Responsive Authoritarianism in China. In L. Lisheng, H. Kriesi & D. Kübler (eds.), Urban Mobilizations and New Media in Contemporary China (p. 117-132). Farnham & Burlington: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2007). Communication, power and counter-power in the network society. International Journal of Communication, 1(1), 238-266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, L., Zhang, C., & Wilson, C. (2013). Tweeting under pressure: analyzing trending topics and evolving word choice on sina weibo. Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Online social networks (p. 89-100). New York: ACM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, P. (2009). Leading dissident ‘exiled’ to Chinese northwest. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/4974333/Leading-dissident-exiled-to-Chinese-northwest.html

  • Fu, K., Chan, C., & Chau, M. (2013). Assessing Censorship on Microblogs in China: Discriminatory Keyword Analysis and the Real-Name Registration Policy. Internet Computing, IEEE, 17(3), 42-50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gephi.org. (2011). Gephi Tutorial Layouts. Retrieved from https://gephi.org/users/tutorial-layouts/

  • Gleiss, M. S. (2015). Speaking up for the suffering (br) other: Weibo activism, discursive struggles, and minimal politics in China. Media, Culture & Society, 37(4), 513-529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassid, J. (2012). Safety valve or pressure cooker? Blogs in Chinese political life. Journal of Communication, 62(2), 212-230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, P., & Hussain, M. (2013). Democracy’s fourth wave? Digital media and the Arab Spring. Oxford [u. a.]: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, K., & Tang, Z. (2015). Wei boqingjingxiawangluoyuqing guan jianjiedianshibiejikuosanmoshifen xi [Research on Identification of Network Public Opinion’s Key Nodes and Analysis on Diffusion Modes in the Context of Micro-blog]. Library and Information Service, 59(20), 105-111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, M. (2010). Authoritarian informationalism: China’s approach to Internet sovereignty. SAIS Review, 30(2), 71-89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, M. (2014). The Co-evolution of the Internet, (Un) Civil Society & Authoritarianism in China. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2379092

  • Jin, Y., Wang, R., & Chen, X. (2011). Qi ye weiboyingxiaoxiaoguo he fen sishuliang de duan qi hu dong moxing [A Short-term Interactive Model on the Relationship between Enterprise Microblogging Marketing Effect and Followers’ Number]. Journal of Management Science, 4, 71-83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J., & Etling, B. (2008). Mapping Iran’s online public: Politics and culture in the Persian blogosphere. Berkman Center research publication: no. 2008-01. Retrieved from https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2008/Mapping_Irans_Online_Public

  • Kent, M. (2008). Digital Divide 2.0 and the Digital Subaltern. Nebula, 5(4), 84-96.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, G., Pan, J., & Roberts, M. E. (2013). How censorship in China allows government criticism but silences collective expression. American Political Science Review, 107(02), 326-343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kong, L. (2013). Lun mi su li xin wen jiang de zhongguoshijiao [The Chinese Perspective of the Missouri Awards for Distinguished Service in Journalism]. Modern Communication, 9, 49-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuo, A. M. (2016). The Politics of Religion in China. Insights from Fenggang Yang. The Diplomat. Retrieved from http://thediplomat.com/2016/08/the-politics-of-religion-in-china/

  • Lee, K. (2003). Jia Zhangke. Sense of cinema. Retrieved from http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/jia/

  • Lee K. (2011). Weibo gai bian yi qie [Weibo changed everything]. Shanghai: Shanghai University of Finance & Economics Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S., & Cotte, J. (2009). Network Centrality and Opinion Leadership. Retrieved from http://ojs.acadiau.ca/index.php/ASAC/article/viewFile/514/423

  • Lei, Y. W. (2011). The political consequences of the rise of the Internet: Political beliefs and practices of Chinese netizens. Political Communication, 28(3), 291-322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, B. (2012). Wei bo yi jian ling xiu qun ti “xiao xiang su miao” [“Portraits” of microblogging opinion leaders]. Journalism Review, (9), 19-25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, N. (1999). Building a Network Theory of Social Capital. Connections, 22(1), 28-51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, N. (2004). Yuan hen jieshi, dong yuan jiegou he li xingxuanze – you guan zhongguo du shi di qujitixing dong fa sheng kenengxing de fen xi [Interpretation of Resentment, Mobilization Structure and Rational Choice: An Analysis of the Possibility of Collective Behavior in China’s Urban Areas]. Open Times, (4), 57-70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Z, & Liu, L. (2011). Wei bo wang luo yu qing zhong de yi jian ling xiu shi bie ji fen xi [Recognition and Analysis of Opinion Leaders in Microblog Public Opinions]. Systems Engineering, 29(6), 8-16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lotan, G., Graeff, E., Ananny, M., Gaffney, D., Pearce, I., & Boyd, D. (2011). The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information Flows During the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions. International Journal of Communication, 5, 1375-1405.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morozov, E. (2009). The Internet: A room of our own? Dissent, 56(3), 80-85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obern, C, (2013) The Expression of Alternative Nationalism in China’s Weibo. Honors Projects. Paper 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • People’s Daily Online (2016). People’s Daily microblogging influence government index report. Retrieved from http://vdisk.weibo.com/s/q0w1lmSsJ4k9T

  • Registration Statement (2014). Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1595761/000119312514100237/d652805df1.htm#toc

  • Sheng, Z., & Gao, S. (2013). Zhong guo wei bo yi jian ling xiu, te zheng, te xing yu fa zhan qushi [Opinion Leaders of Chinese Microblogs: Features, Types and Development Trends]. Journal of North Eastern University (Social Science), 15(4), 381-385.

    Google Scholar 

  • State Council Information Office of People’s Public of China [SCIO] (2010), Zhongguo hu lian wang zhuang kuang [The Internet in China]. People. Retrieved from http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/101380/11813818.html

  • Tang, W., & Iyengar, S. (2011). The Emerging Media System in China: Implications for Regime Change. Political Communication, 28(3), 263-267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J. (2015). NGO 2.0 and social media praxis: activist as researcher. Chinese Journal of Communication, 8(1), 18-41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weibo Community Regulation. (2015). Retrieved August 22, 2016, from http://service.account.weibo.com/roles/gongyue

  • Weibo.com (2016). Weibo Renzheng [Weibo Verification]. Retrieved from http://verified.weibo.com/verify

  • Wu, Q. (2016). Fen sijingjiyuweibo de duo weijiazhiyanjiu. [Research of Fans economy and multiple values of Weibo]. Journal of Advertising Study, (1), 64-69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, X. (2016). Zhan ling wang luo zhi di dian [Occupying the Bottom of the Internet]. Retrieved from https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/letscorp_archive/archives/101386

  • Zeng, F. & Huang, G. (2012). Wang luo yi jian ling xiu she qu de gou cheng, lian dong ji qi zheng ce ying xiang: yi wei bo wei li [The constitution, interaction, and the policy implication of cyber opinion leader community: in the case of Weibo]. Open Times, (4), 115-131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Z. (2011). Weibo shidai de cao gen huayuquanbaozhang [The safeguard of the grassroots’ discursive power in the micro-blogging era]. News Research, (6), 6-8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, H. (2011). Wei boyingxiaoxianzhuangyu fa zhan tai shichu tan [the status quo and trends of microblogging marketing]. News World, (4), 100-101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, R. (2009). “Xin yi jian jie ceng” zai wang shang jue qi [The rise of “the new opinion class” in the Internet]. Yan huang chun qiu, (3), 52-57.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Zihao Lin, Andrea Hamm & Susanne Reinhardt

Authors
  1. Zihao Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrea Hamm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susanne Reinhardt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zihao Lin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Publizistik, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Carola Richter

  2. FU Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Anna Antonakis

  3. Inst. Für Politikwiss., Freie Univ. Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Cilja Harders

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Lin, Z., Hamm, A., Reinhardt, S. (2018). Political Communication Chinese Style: The Elite Network in State-Regulated Sina Weibo . In: Richter, C., Antonakis, A., Harders, C. (eds) Digital Media and the Politics of Transformation in the Arab World and Asia. Studies in International, Transnational and Global Communications. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20700-7_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20700-7_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-20699-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-20700-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation