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COOPTATION, COLLUSION AND CONTESTATIONS: DEVELOPMENT, REGULATION AND GLOBALIZATION OF THE INTERNET IN CHINA LIANRUI JIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO October 2020 © Lianrui Jia, 2020 Abstract This dissertation investigates the antithetical sets of developments between a nationally-controlled Chinese internet and its increasing commercial success. It asks the central question of how does the Chinese government reconcile its political goal of maintaining a sovereign internet with the goal of sustaining and fostering commercial success? To answer this question, this dissertation uses primary methods of textual and document analysis and examines a corpus of first-hand and secondary documents including laws, regulations, directives, company financial documents, and news reports. This dissertation develops a tripartite model, outlining the role and interplay between three actors in sustaining China’s tightly controlled yet commercially vibrant internet: the Chinese state, internet companies, and capital. It is argued that the Chinese state remains as a key institutional force in shaping domestic internet regulation, gatekeeping entry and conditions of participation of capital in the domestic market, and supervising and supporting domestic internet companies. The internet companies, on the other hand, are agentic and creative in working around restrictions on foreign investment while retaining managerial control and collaborating with various state-led projects. Foreign capital enters the picture, transforming Chinese internet companies into financiers, owners and stakeholders in emerging markets. This dissertation therefore challenges the top-down view of the Chinese state in directing and controlling the internet. It shows that the Chinese state is highly adaptive in political control and economic policy-making. Censorship and control have always constituted part of the institutional conditions interwoven into the political economy of the Chinese internet. It also systematically analyzes the often-overlooked role of capital in the industrial development of the Chinese internet. Overall, this dissertation unpacks the ii collusion and contestations between state, internet companies and capital, caught in between aspirations of building an explicitly nationalistic internet and the increasing need for global connections, flows of technologies, financial and human capital. iii Dedication In loving memory of my grandma, Sumei Liu. iv Acknowledgments Influenced and trained in the political economy of communication tradition, it is impossible for me to not think about the political economy of this dissertation. However difficult it is to sum the past six years in two pages, I nonetheless want to express my sincere gratitude to those who have contributed and influenced this dissertation. To my brilliant doctoral committee: thank you Catherine Middleton for your patience, guidance and unwavering support in every way throughout my doctoral journey. I have learned from you a scholar’s rigorousness and a mentor’s empathy and kindness. I am deeply grateful for Greg Elmer, for your generosity and encouragement for my research, and for opening my mind to think about the topic of financialization. Tokunbo Ojo, a thank you would not be enough to capture your mentorship and support ever since I took your class at Carleton in 2011, a Communication for Development course where you made us memorize the capital of every single countries in Africa and quizzed them—you showed me that we should embrace who we are and find a voice for ourselves in the scholarly world. I also wish to thank faculty and staffs for their kind supports at the Joint Program in Communication and Cultures at York and Ryerson. Special thanks to Anne MacLennan, for giving the PhD a very good start and for the reaffirming message that “I can do this”. Outside the Program, Natasha Tusikov, thank you for reaching out after our encounter at AoIR in Montreal and your trust and confidence in me ever since. Also to Dwayne Winseck and Sandra Robinson, whom are always an email away whenever I needed help. I also wish to express the deepest of gratitude to David Nieborg, who is “a big brain and an even bigger heart”, to quote my dear friend Jill. v This dissertation is also made possible with doctoral scholarships from York University, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, York Centre of Asia Research (a special shout out to Alicia Filipowich) and Mitacs. I am also extremely lucky to have Xiaofei Han, the best friend, brilliant colleague and caring companion a PhD student could ever ask for. Also to dear friends and fellow researchers of the Chinese internet: Lotus Ruan, Jing Wang, Tianyang Zhou, and Yuqi Na. It is heartwarming to know that we are in this together. To my family: Han, my travel companion, part-time critique, and an overall awesome partner, thank you for being on my side and supporting my decisions. To my in-laws, whom always keep their worries at bay to ensure that we can be worry-free to pursue our goals. To Mom, your support in whichever format means the world to me. To Jia and Yi, two super kind, loving and curious souls— you added sparks to my life. The completion of this dissertation is at a special yet not unprecedented time. COVID- 19 has quieted the world down so that we could listen to the voices that we did not hear, be grateful for the things that we took for granted, and spend more time with ourselves with limited mobility and sociality. I can only say that I am privileged and tremendously grateful to see this dissertation coming together during such special time. vi Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................ ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ vii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................................... x Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Research Problem ........................................................................................................................... 2 Political Economy of Communication ............................................................................................ 5 Institutional Political Economy of Communication .......................................................................... 7 Critical Political Economy of Communication and Financialization ............................................. 12 Synthesis: Theoretical Foundations ................................................................................................. 15 Methodology and Data ................................................................................................................. 16 Key Concepts .................................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter Outline ............................................................................................................................ 25 Chapter One: Literature Review .................................................................................................................. 28 Developmental Trajectories and Regulations of a Socio-technical System ................................. 28 Civil Society, Transgressions, and Culture ................................................................................... 35 Globalization and the Chinese Internet ....................................................................................... 41 Exercising Sovereignty ..................................................................................................................... 41 Sustaining Economic Development through the Internet Industry ............................................... 42 Chinese Internet and Financialization ............................................................................................. 44 Chapter Summary ......................................................................................................................... 47 Chapter Two: Historical Transformation of Communication in China .......................................... 49 Communication in State planning: Overview of Five-Year Plans and Key Policies ..................... 49 Shaping the Media: Balancing the Commercial and the Political ................................................ 54 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................................
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