Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

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Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China. / Liu, Jun.

In: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 47, No. 3, 2013, p. 995 - 1018.

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Liu, J 2013, 'Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China', Modern Asian Studies, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 995 - 1018. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X12000340

APA

Liu, J. (2013). Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China. Modern Asian Studies, 47(3), 995 - 1018. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X12000340

Vancouver

Liu J. Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China. Modern Asian Studies. 2013;47(3):995 - 1018. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X12000340

Author

Liu, Jun. / Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China. In: Modern Asian Studies. 2013 ; Vol. 47, No. 3. pp. 995 - 1018.

Bibtex

@article{7d662b6f194341a6a3b3196c6a005bc4,
title = "Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China",
abstract = "Digital telecommunication technology has expanded the potential of the mobile phone to be increasingly used as a weapon against authoritarian rule and censorship. Since the content of mobile communication is unpredictable and unregulated, mobile phones have the potential to breach state-sponsored information blockage. This in turn helps the Chinese people to maintain contact with each other, receive information from outside the country, and make political waves in an aggressive battle for control over information. This paper examines spontaneous mobilization via mobile phones, with a focus on two concrete popular protests in rural and urban areas, demonstrating how Chinese citizens have expanded the political uses of mobile phones in their struggle for freedom of information flow, social justice, and the rule of law, while seeking to build an inexpensive counter-public sphere. These processes destabilize China{\textquoteright}s conventional national public sphere by shaping political identities on the individual level as well as the notion of citizenship within the evolving counter-public sphere. The political significance of mobile phones in the context of contemporary China{\textquoteright}s political environment can be observed by various social forces that communicate their struggles with the aid of this technology, pose challenges in governance, and force the authorities to engage in new kinds of media practices.",
keywords = "Faculty of Humanities, mobile phone, China, popular protest, public sphere, citizenship",
author = "Jun Liu",
year = "2013",
doi = "10.1017/S0026749X12000340",
language = "English",
volume = "47",
pages = "995 -- 1018",
journal = "Modern Asian Studies",
issn = "0026-749X",
publisher = "Cambridge University Press",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Mobile Communication, Popular Protests and Citizenship in China

AU - Liu, Jun

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - Digital telecommunication technology has expanded the potential of the mobile phone to be increasingly used as a weapon against authoritarian rule and censorship. Since the content of mobile communication is unpredictable and unregulated, mobile phones have the potential to breach state-sponsored information blockage. This in turn helps the Chinese people to maintain contact with each other, receive information from outside the country, and make political waves in an aggressive battle for control over information. This paper examines spontaneous mobilization via mobile phones, with a focus on two concrete popular protests in rural and urban areas, demonstrating how Chinese citizens have expanded the political uses of mobile phones in their struggle for freedom of information flow, social justice, and the rule of law, while seeking to build an inexpensive counter-public sphere. These processes destabilize China’s conventional national public sphere by shaping political identities on the individual level as well as the notion of citizenship within the evolving counter-public sphere. The political significance of mobile phones in the context of contemporary China’s political environment can be observed by various social forces that communicate their struggles with the aid of this technology, pose challenges in governance, and force the authorities to engage in new kinds of media practices.

AB - Digital telecommunication technology has expanded the potential of the mobile phone to be increasingly used as a weapon against authoritarian rule and censorship. Since the content of mobile communication is unpredictable and unregulated, mobile phones have the potential to breach state-sponsored information blockage. This in turn helps the Chinese people to maintain contact with each other, receive information from outside the country, and make political waves in an aggressive battle for control over information. This paper examines spontaneous mobilization via mobile phones, with a focus on two concrete popular protests in rural and urban areas, demonstrating how Chinese citizens have expanded the political uses of mobile phones in their struggle for freedom of information flow, social justice, and the rule of law, while seeking to build an inexpensive counter-public sphere. These processes destabilize China’s conventional national public sphere by shaping political identities on the individual level as well as the notion of citizenship within the evolving counter-public sphere. The political significance of mobile phones in the context of contemporary China’s political environment can be observed by various social forces that communicate their struggles with the aid of this technology, pose challenges in governance, and force the authorities to engage in new kinds of media practices.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - mobile phone

KW - China

KW - popular protest

KW - public sphere

KW - citizenship

U2 - 10.1017/S0026749X12000340

DO - 10.1017/S0026749X12000340

M3 - Journal article

VL - 47

SP - 995

EP - 1018

JO - Modern Asian Studies

JF - Modern Asian Studies

SN - 0026-749X

IS - 3

ER -

ID: 40363544