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Microblogging and Its Implications to Chinese Civil Society and the Urban Public Sphere: a Case Study of Sina Weibo Yanshuang Zhang Master of Arts

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Microblogging and Its Implications to Chinese Civil Society and the Urban Public Sphere: a Case Study of Sina Weibo Yanshuang Zhang Master of Arts Microblogging and its implications to Chinese civil society and the urban public sphere: A case study of Sina Weibo Yanshuang Zhang Master of Arts A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2015 School of Communication and Arts Abstract Inside mainland China, some Anglophone social media such as Facebook and Twitter are blocked; as a result, savvy Chinese enterprises have invented alternative versions of these microblogging services—the best known being Weibo. Scholars have suggested that applications such as Weibo have created greater openness, transparency and engagement in the urban public sphere, and have contributed to a much deeper social change, in synergy with reforms in many social areas of contemporary China. This thesis aims to examine the role of microblogging in the following dimensions: (i) the public engagement in civil discourse about particular issues; (ii) the status quo and development of the public sphere within the context; and (iii) the interaction, synergy and reciprocity among the state, the urban public sphere, and civil society. To this end, the issue of how microblogging is involved in every aspect of ordinary Chinese people’s lives is empirically investigated. Microblogging plays an important role in facilitating people making sense of what is happening in China through engaging in civil discourse about various social issues, and this civil engagement in return may exert profound impact on the country’s concurrent reforms and democratisation process. Current new-media studies address only some aspects of the new-media use in some parts of the world, due to the strong historical association of the new technology with libertarian discourse, linguistic estrangement, and the reluctance of some Western researchers to learn from developments in other parts of the world. This thesis uses de-Westernised approaches and adopts a non-Western eye to examine the production, distribution and use of new media in a developing country, in an effort to boost intercultural collaboration in this field. The theoretical framework applied in this thesis originates from civil society and Habermas’s conception of the public sphere, but emphatically focuses on its extrapolation to, and innovation in a Chinese context. A wide range of political, cultural and societal perspectives are employed to explain the uniqueness and non-replicability of microblogging’s impact on the process of constructing an online civil society in contemporary China. This thesis uses two sets of methods: (i) case studies, all three of which involve Sina Weibo—one of the many Weibo services as the main platform and (ii) mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative approaches that combines content analysis and media discourse analysis to analyse the data collected in this research. 2 Drawing from the civil discourse practices in the three case studies, the thesis conceptualises three nuanced interactional modes of the Chinese state–society relations: confrontation, positive interaction and negotiation, and thereby concludes that the state–society relations should not be confined to a simple, static dichotomy, but rather be looked at in a more dynamic and diversified way. The “plasticity” of Weibo in facilitating an online public sphere provides many explanatory possibilities for subsequent researchers to diversify and expand the empirical data in this research and thus enrich the connotation of Chinese public sphere and civil society theories. 3 Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the General Award Rules of The University of Queensland, immediately made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis. 4 Publications during candidature Conference papers and proceedings Zhang, Y., Harrison, J., Rintel, S., & Angus, D. (2013, November). Chinese social media as a dominated online public sphere. The Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2013-Official Conference Proceedings, 609-625. Retrieved from http://iafor.org/Proceedings/MediAsia/MediAsia2013_proceedings.pdf Zhang, Y. (2014, July). Chinese social media as a dominated public sphere: A case study of China’s leadership transition on Sina Weibo. Paper accepted by International Association for Media and Communication Research 2014 Conference, Hyderabad, India. Commentaries Zhang, Y., Rintel, S. (2012, June 29). No-no on Weibo: China challenges the New York Times. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/no-no-on-weibo-china-challenges-the-new-york-times-7964 Zhang, Y. (2012, July 20). Chinese Internet censorship? Seeking the ‘truth’ on Weibo. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/chinese-Internet-censorship-seeking-the-truth-on-weibo-8310 Zhang, Y. (2013, January 14). The Southern Weekly and censorship in China: a nation fights back. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-southern-weekly-and-censorship-in-china-a-nation-fights-back-115 39 Zhang, Y. (2013, January 23). Deadly air: the smog shrouding China’s future. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/deadly-air-the-smog-shrouding-chinas-future-11617 Zhang, Y. (2013, March 18). Pigs and pollution: China can’t keep ignoring the environment. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/pigs-and-pollution-china-cant-keep-ignoring-the-environment-12842 5 Zhang, Y. (2013, April 16). Baidu Eye: ‘micro-innovation’ or copying Google Glass? The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/baidu-eye-micro-innovation-or-copying-google-glass-13303 Zhang, Y. (2013, August 30). Fall of a princeling: Bo Xilai’s trial by Chinese social media. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/fall-of-a-princeling-bo-xilais-trial-by-chinese-social-media-17599 Zhang, Y. (2013, November 5). China is groping its way through another ‘airpocalypse’. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/china-is-groping-its-way-through-another-airpocalypse-19511 Zhang, Y. (2014, March 4). China can’t smother growing public demands to clear the air. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/china-cant-smother-growing-public-demands-to-clear-the-air-23811 Zhang, Y. (2014, June 5). Guo Jian’s detainment paints a familiar picture of China. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/guo-jians-detainment-paints-a-familiar-picture-of-china-27586 Publications included in this thesis No publications included. Contributions by others to the thesis No contributions by others. Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree None. 6 Acknowledgements I owe a lot of thanks to many people who have supported me all along this journey. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisory team which gathered the best talents, Dr John Harrison, Dr Sean Rintel and Dr Daniel Angus, for their guidance, patience, and support throughout. Working with them was a fantastic experience and I have learned a lot from their broad visions and diversified academic research experiences. I feel honoured to have the chance to study with the School of Journalism and Communication and The University of Queensland who generously offered me a scholarship to support my doctoral project. My gratitude also goes to my home country who sponsored me to come out to look at the bigger outside world. Over the years I have come to know what a real intellectual should be like and what responsibilities he/she should have to the knowledge, the people and the world he/she is living in. I could not have been to this point without my friends, family, and colleagues along the way. Since I decided to further my study in this university, I have received many people’s selfless assistance and warm encouragement. So I want to take this opportunity to thank them for having confidence in me, and pushing me forward when I was about to give myself up. You all are the greatest wealth in my life. Special love goes to my little daughter who was born during this journey. I feel so lucky that upon the completion of PhD I have got two “babies” as the most beautiful fruits of all the suffering, tears, pain, joy and happiness—my thesis and you. You let me realise my responsibility as a parent and give me great hope and courage to cheerfully embrace the infinite possibilities of life. This is the end of a memorable journey, but I know it is just the start of my academic life. A whole brand new world is out there waiting to be explored. I hope years later, when looking back at this experience, I will still remember my original dream at the starting point, and with all the inspiration, ambition and passion I have obtained from here, I can say without regret that I did not fail myself, and I have become much better and stronger.
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