Social Spaces and New Media: Some Reflections on the Modernization Process in China

Abstract

This essay takes a historical perspective and tries to illustrate the role of new media in current Chinese society. In doing so, the agents and their relationships to the media employed are identified and discussed in respect to the social spaces and structures. There was no public space in Chinese dynasties. The common people and official were regarded as “sheep” and governed by the emperor and his official, the “shepherd”. The Confucian scholars not only were very part of the officialdom but also articulated the necessary ideologies for the emperor and his state by means of the media technologies locally invented. This particular structure did not disappear completely after the disappearance of the last dynasty although newspapers and broadcasting media were introduced to the Chinese. But the recent economic reform has opened the door to not only transnational corporations but also new media communications. This time, the “sheep” becomes the user of the new media as agent. It seriously challenges the established ideologies and social structures by creating virtual public spaces and personalizing the real private spaces for the fist time in history.This essay explores the role of new media played in the changes of social space during the recent modernization process in China. The social space refers to public, private, and personal spaces. Such spaces were emerged and established in different stages of historical processes. The spaces are significant because they encourage structuration in particular directions by setting up clear boundaries for social interactions. However, such boundaries could be challenged by agents who want to substantial changes when new media become available. That is, each medium has its own bias as far as communication is concerned (Innis, 1991). While one group (class) might benefit from a medium's diffusion and implementation, the other could suffer from the practice. Historically speaking, it has been well documented that major social changes often involve redefining social spaces with the assistance of media in the West (see Elias, 1994; Febvew and Martin, 1976). While the dynasty oriented Chinese history suggests that its social process is not closely related to media such as printing technology's adoption and post-adoption, [1]its current market oriented economy, participation in globalization and eagerness for modernization re-pose the questions on the relationship between social changes and new media in respect to the spaces. Are there great changes with the assistance of the new media in social structure and space? If so, who are the agents for the changes? This essay tries to clarify and answer the questions by focusing on agents, structures, and spaces.