Page 36 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

grated entity (Yu and Xing, 2011). Although the reform and opening-up policy has im-

proved this to some extent, China is still a highly bureaucratic state, and the concept is
only accepted at the bottom level of the hierarchical system. Therefore, it is difficult to
foster an antagonistic relationship between the state and society, such as exists in west-
ern countries. Yu and Xing concluded that:

‘the public sphere can only exist in the overlapping space between the state and
society in China. It is under the political authority’s governance. No matter how it
develops, it cannot grow beyond the state’s control’ (Yu and Xing, 2011, p.84).

‘Public sphere’ and ‘civil society’ are two concepts developed in western coun-
tries, which are not suitable in the context of China because ‘they presuppose a dichot-
omous opposition between state and society’ (Huang, 1993, cited in Tai, 2006, p.50).
Huang (1993, p.225) proposed an alternative term – ‘third realm’ – to illustrate the

specificities of Chinese socio-political life, which refers to a ‘third space conceptually
distinct from state and society’. Yet the ‘state-society’ model has still been widely used
in analysing the social structure in China (Jing, 2005; Tang, 2005). Debates continue
over the applicability of the concepts of the public sphere and civil society in China,

due to ongoing process of social transition in which the relationship between the state
and society is no longer integrated (Sun, 2004). A tendency towards structural differen-
tiation is thus reflected. The state has narrowed its scope of control over society, which
has gained a certain degree of free mobility of resources and free movement space (ibid).

2.3.2 The online public sphere in China’s cyberspace

Agreeing with Sun (2004), Pan (2010) pointed out that, to infer an in-depth and
thorough interaction between the media, state and society, it is necessary to understand
‘public sphere’ as a historical phenomenon rather than a fixed subject. Tai (2006, p.51)

also argued that ‘the conception of public sphere should not be treated as immutable;
rather, it must be conceptualised as fluid, adapting to new formations of political, so-
cial, and institutional forces’. Hence, a wider domain of the public sphere needs to be
considered to cater for the particularities of the social-political structure in China, and

this leads to the emergence of the online public sphere.

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