Communicating citizenship in China’s digital society

ABSTRACT

This research explores the (inter-) cultural dimension of communicating citizenship in China’s new media environment. It adopts speech codes theory as a theoretical and methodological framework to examine the historically situated and socially constructed meanings of citizenship and the normative communicative conduct for practicing “good citizenship” in China. Through a systematic analysis of Chinese online discourse surrounding two social events, this study captures one speech code pertaining to communicating citizenship that is premised on a paradox – citizenship is interpreted by the Chinese as a legal entitlement that they deserve, but it is simultaneously treated as an aspirational and unattainable ideal. Additionally, speaking sensibly and morally with a communal orientation is heavily emphasized in this speech code as it is considered a valuable communicative practice for performing “good citizenship.” Finally, participating in online collective actions such as “topping posts” is rendered an acceptable and effective way to communicate and enact citizen rights in China.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship
• speech codes
• online discourse
• Chinese Internet

Notes

1 According to Goldman and Perry (2002), the Chinese concept 公/gong (public) in late imperial China bears resemblance to the Habermasian “public sphere” in that under the name of gong, Chinese elites actively participated in political discussion and deliberation.

2 “Human flesh search” (人肉搜索/renrou sousuo), the Chinese expression for searching and digging out personal information on the Internet, is a collective means of information-sharing for the purpose of tracking down individuals from the virtual world to their offline life. According to Herold (2011), this online tracking has become a normative practice for the Chinese to pursue their personal interest (e.g., to find the whereabouts of a run-away wife), to express their mob anger over widespread stories from individuals (e.g., a foreign English teacher’s blogs disclosing his sexual conquests of Chinese girls in Shanghai), and to protest against government officials (e.g., the Zhou Jiugeng case in this study).

3 Deng Yujiao was a young worker at a foot massage center in a hotel in Hubei province. In 2009, when a group of officials were attempting to sexually assault her, she defended herself with a knife and accidently killed one of the officials. After she called the police and gave herself up, she was charged with homicide. When this accident was reported in national newspapers, many netizens suspected that Deng was found guilty because the deceased official was a high-ranking official. They started a “human flesh search” on all the officials involved in the assault and forced the police to launch a proper investigation into this case.

4 Translations of examples are written by the author.