ABSTRACT
Three different images of Asia and the Internet frame this introduction. The first is of two young, hip, androgynous Asians who grace the cover of the July-September 2000 special edition of Newsweek International. They boast a cyborg aesthetic, complete with red-streaked hair, futuristic microfiber clothing, and metallic makeup. These representatives of the “New Asia” stand against a traditional dragon backdrop like modern technocrats emerging from an oriental chrysalis. The accompanying articles boost the idea of this new modern, liberal subject. As leaders of the “quiet revolution”, their technology of “liberation” is the Internet. 1 In the “New Economy” section, several articles raise the prospects of “liberat[ion] by the internet,” 2 and the Internet’s “revolutionary” potential to create a “commercial democracy.” 3 One particular writer suggests that, “Out there in cyberspace the old Asia of paternalism, cozy insider deals and murky transactions is fading. Meritocracy rules.” 4 This Newsweek issue celebrates the cultural and economic revolution that the Internet promises, implying that technology will succeed where communism failed to deliver. Finally, democracy (and the logic of capitalism) has broken down the last bastion of the East. For the “New Asian Woman” in particular, the Internet heralds a “new world of possibilities” in information technology-led economies, signifying progress from Oriental patriarchies and traditional, circumscribed, gender roles. 5 The profiles of several Asian women prominent in their fields testify to the role that the Internet has had in their success. The celebrated androgyny on the front cover testifies to how gender is both ostensibly unmarked and unremarkable, the playing field is leveled in cyberspace.
