More on the internet and civil society in China.
In an op-ed in SCMP Tuesday (sub. required), former Swedish Ambassador to China Borje Ljunggren goes through some of the recent literature*, noting that Chinese party-state is “pluralising [the] internet to its own advantage" and filling the media with “ideotainment.”
But quoting author Johan Lagerkvist, he also describes “an ongoing erosion of the party-state's power over civil society”, with a rise in activism and the formation of new social norms online and offline.
While censorship is absolutely central to the system, “its usage is increasingly exposed” as web users become aware of it, with the result that the idea of a “right to know” is taking shape in China's growing online civil society.
* The Power of the Internet in China - Citizen Activism Online, Guobin Yang ; After the Internet, Before Democracy - Competing Norms in Chinese Society and Media, Johan Lagerkvist; Changing Media, Changing China, Susan Shirk (ed.)