Flying freely but in the cage ‐ an empirical study of using internet for the democratic development in China

Abstract

With the advent of Internet technology, scholars have begun to examine the role this new communication technology can play as a mass medium in promoting democracy in Third World countries. This paper did a case study by examining the impact of diffusion of Internet technology on the democratic development in China at grassroots level. Using a combined method of web observation and qualitative content analysis, the author observed five selected bulletin board systems so as to find out how ordinary citizens have used the Internet to continue their age old fight for democracy, and how their self‐expression and discussions have been politically framed both by netizens themselves and by the Internet services providers. The findings tell us that the Internet does not carry an inherently democratizing force that is irresistible, and it is not inevitably an agent of democracy. The Internet, however, concluded the author, has created a virtual classroom, that is otherwise unavailable, for Chinese people to start to learn what democracy means to them through their daily exchanges of ideas and information.