Incivility on Diaoyu Island sovereignty in Tianya Club

Abstract

Online discussion boards are an increasingly popular mode of public engagement with political and social issues. This case study examines data drawn from online debates on a discussion board regarding a historical dispute between China and Japan since 1895.¹ This research explores how incivility, a concept developed by western scholars and applied to western communication patterns, can be applied to a Chinese cultural context while also considering the characteristics of emotional responses to the specific issue in the forum. Prior research has demonstrated that, due to the absence of a gatekeeper on such forums who would filter or edit content for public consumption, discussion of prominent issues can get heated without a gatekeeper. A textual analysis of incivility found that fear and disgust were not typical emotional responses to incivility among the members of the forum. On the contrary, ‘support’ was the most identified emotional response in this particular case. In conclusion, cultural context, characteristics of an issue, and characteristics of a particular topic are all important factors that affect ‘incivility’ and ‘emotional response’ in online comments on Diaoyu Island Sovereignty on Tianya Club.

Keywords:

• Internet
• public sphere
• content analysis
• cross-cultural communication

Notes

1. Received from http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1039204/timeline-diaoyu-senkaku-islands-dispute, June 4, 2013.

2. China's online forum users hit 117 million. Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-07/07/c_13388777.htm

3. Received from http://4seohunt.com/rep/tianya.cn

4. Tianya admitted mis-disclosed user's information. Received from http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2011-12/26/c_122482007.htm

5. Wu You Zhi Xiang is an online book store, a patriotic website that sells books for those who are nostalgic for Mao Zedong's rule and worried that the country is abandoning its communist principles.

6. There was a young man named Lord Ye. He likes dragons very much. He draws many dragons in his house. The house becomes a world of dragons. A red dragon hears of Lord Ye, and is deeply moved. He wants to visit Lord Ye and makes a friend with him. ‘Hi, Mr. Ye! Nice to meet you,’ the real dragon comes to visit Mr Ye runs away as fast he can. ‘Oh, my God! Help! Help!’ he runs and shouts.

7. Left here means ‘left wing’. In China, ‘left wings’ are those who are in line with Maoist.

8. Confucianism is an ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yanfang Wu

Yanfang Wu, Doctoral Student, School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.