Social Media Practices in China: Empowerment through Subversive Pleasure Minghua Wu Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Discipline of Media The University of Adelaide April 2014 Table of Contents Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………..i List of Figures ................................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... ix Abstract ........................................................................................................................... xi Declaration .................................................................................................................... xiv Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aims and Significance of this Project ..................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Questions .................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Power Shifts and Negotiations in Chinese Social Media ........................................ 5 1.4 Key Terms in Use in this Thesis .............................................................................. 7 1.4.1 Carnival and Carnivalesque .............................................................................. 7 1.4.2 Subversive Pleasures ......................................................................................... 8 1.4.3 Discourse Power ............................................................................................. 11 1.4.4 Public Sphere .................................................................................................. 13 1.5 Explanatory Framework and its Chinese Cultural Inflections ............................... 14 1.6 Method ................................................................................................................... 21 1.7 Thesis Argument .................................................................................................... 23 1.8 Thesis Structure and Overview .............................................................................. 25 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................. 30 Carnivalesque Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Civic Participation in Chinese Social Media ............................................................................ 30 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 30 2.2 The Shifting Dynamics of Discourse Power ......................................................... 32 2.2.1 Discourse Power ............................................................................................. 32 2.2.2 Negotiated Meaning ........................................................................................ 36 2.3 The “Carnival Marketplace” .................................................................................. 37 2.3.1 The Notion of Carnivalesque .......................................................................... 38 2.3.2 Grotesque Realism .......................................................................................... 39 2.3.3 Reconceptualising the Liberating Potential of Carnival Laughter .................. 41 2.3.4 Extending the Concept of Carnival to Online Communities .......................... 44 2.4 Mapping the Networked Public Sphere in Chinese Social Media ......................... 46 i 2.4.1 Habermas’s Conceptualization of the Public Sphere ..................................... 46 2.4.2 Critiques and Revisions of the Public Sphere Concept .................................. 48 2.4.3 Public Spheres as Sites of Mass Self-Communication in Online Community ................................................................................................................................. 50 2.4.4 Mapping the Networked Public Sphere in China ........................................... 53 2.5 Carnivalesque Participatory Discourse ................................................................. 56 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................ 60 Background and Context of Media Regulation: An Ongoing Campaign ....................... 60 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 60 3.2 The Control of Media ............................................................................................ 61 3.2.1 The Logic of Media Restriction: A historical perspective ............................. 61 3.2.2 The Mechanisms of Media Regulation .......................................................... 64 3.3 Adapting Regulation to Chinese Social Media ..................................................... 70 3.3.1 The Chinese Characteristics of Social Media ................................................. 70 3.3.2 Sina Weibo Corporate Regulations ................................................................ 81 3.3.3 Negotiating Boundaries on Sina Weibo ......................................................... 88 3.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 94 CHAPTER FOUR .......................................................................................................... 96 Weiguan and Meizhi ....................................................................................................... 96 Modes of Civic Participation in Contemporary China ................................................... 96 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 96 4.2 The Evolution of Traditional Chinese Weiguan Culture: from the Street and Tea Houses to Online Media Practices .............................................................................. 97 4.2.1 Weiguan Culture from Past to Present ........................................................... 97 4.2.2 The Power of Weibo Weiguan ..................................................................... 109 4.3 Meizhi .................................................................................................................. 113 4.4 Evolving Power Relations among the Chinese Government, the Media and Citizens ...................................................................................................................... 119 4.4.1 The Evolution of Media Participation .......................................................... 120 4.4.2 Online Discourse as Participation ................................................................ 127 4.4.3 Weibo E-governance .................................................................................... 129 4.5 Chinese Characteristics of Civic Participation: The Feedback Loops between Weiguan and Meizhi .................................................................................................. 133 4.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 136 CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................... 139 ii Playing Word Games: Subversive Pleasures through Civic Participation Media Events ....................................................................................................................................... 139 5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 139 5.2 The Online Power of Playing Carnivalesque Word Games ................................ 141 5.2.1 The Culture of Chinese Media Governance and Word Games ..................... 141 5.2.2 Techniques for Playing Word Games ........................................................... 142 5.2.3 The Participatory Power of Carnivalesque Discourse .................................. 155 5.3 Flag-bearers and Subversive Pleasures in Carnivalesque Discursive Events ...... 160 5.3.1 Flag-bearers Online in China ........................................................................ 161 5.3.2 Subversive Pleasures on Weibo Weiguan ..................................................... 163 5.4 Carnivalesque Media Events ............................................................................... 170 5.4.1 “Stoning the Drowning Dog” ........................................................................ 170 5.4.2 “Being Stoned with Verbal Rocks” .............................................................. 172 5.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 178 CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................. 180 A Case Study of China’s 2011 High-Speed Train Accident ......................................... 180 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................