ABSTRACT
This chapter conducts a systematic review to understand the contexts, features, and forms of Chinese public spheres that exist in social media platforms. First, we analyze the socio-technical and political contexts of public spheres in China. Second, we identify three essential aspects of public sphere change in Chinese social media: State intervention and authoritarian deliberation, public participation and empowerment, and the expansion of civil organizations. These aspects interact with each other to affect the qualities and forms of public spheres. Third, we clarify four major forms of public spheres that exist in Chinese social media platforms in terms of actors, themes, and features. These public spheres are fragmented and characterized by thematic debates among subgroups. This chapter concludes that social media enable more diversified public spheres, reshape state-society relationships, and nurture plural ways of interaction. Yet, the public spheres’ ultimate roles in facilitating democratic governance remain uncertain in China.
