[Air-L] New book: The Evolution of the Chinese Internet: Creative Visibility in the Digital Public

[Shaohua Guo]

Dear list members,


I am delighted to announce the publication of my book, *The Evolution of
the Chinese Internet: Creative Visibility in the Digital Public* *(Stanford
University Press, December 2020).*

https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=32857


Please see below for detailed information about the book. Thanks!


Best,

Shaohua


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*Description**:*

*Despite widespread consensus that China's digital revolution was sure to
bring about massive democratic reforms, such changes have not come to pass.
While scholars and policy makers alternate between predicting change and
disparaging a stubbornly authoritarian regime, in this book Shaohua Guo
demonstrates how this dichotomy misses the far more complex reality. The
Evolution of the Chinese Internet traces the emergence and maturation of
one of the most creative digital cultures in the world through four major
technological platforms: the bulletin board system, the blog, the
microblog, and WeChat. Guo transcends typical binaries of freedom and
control, to argue that Chinese Internet culture displays a uniquely
sophisticated interplay between multiple extremes, and that its vibrancy is
dependent on these complex negotiations. In contrast to the flourishing of
research findings on what is made invisible online, this book examines the
driving mechanisms that grant visibility to particular kinds of
user-generated content. Offering a systematic account of how and why an
ingenious Internet culture has been able to thrive, Guo highlights the
pivotal roles that media institutions, technological platforms, and
creative practices of Chinese netizens have played in shaping culture on-
and offline.*



*Contents**:*

*1 A Cultural Revolution in China's Digital Age*

*2 A Historical Overview through Technological Platforms*

*3 Tracking Playfulness*

*4 National Blogging and Cultural Entrepreneurship*

*5 Taboo Breakers and Microcultural Contention*

*6 Digital Witnessing on Weibo*

*7 WeChat: An Inflorescence of Content Production*

*8 Ambivalent Revolution*



*Reviews**:*

*"Guo brings much-needed historical and literary sensitivities to the study
of complex technological forms. Her innovative approach sheds critical new
light on the history, culture, and politics of the Chinese internet. Highly
recommended!"*

*—Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania*



*"Built on over a decade of scrupulous field research and perspicacious
on-site observations, this book puts itself on the must-read list of
intellectual endeavors inquiring into the way of being on China's
ever-evolving internet. Subtly contextualized and dexterously historicized,
the narratives embed rich concepts in the flesh and blood of everyday life,
virtual and real."*

*—Zixue Tai, University of Kentucky*



*Author bio**:*

*Shaohua Guo is Associate Professor of Chinese at Carleton College. *Her
research interests focus on contemporary Chinese studies, digital media
studies, and cultural studies.