ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on scholarly and journalistic publications of the past two decades to present a critical narrative of the evolution of the uses of digital technologies in public spatial practice in Chinese cities across the 21st century, and the relationship of these evolving practices with the urban social, political, and economic developments during this period. It presents an overview of the co-evolution of public spatial practice and digital networks in Chinese cities over the past twenty years, exploring developments in the ways in which these technologies have been used both to introduce new modes of control of public life as well to circumvent these controls, and to test and bend cultural and societal norms in public space.
