ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the complex reality, by examining the multifarious ways that both Chinese citizens and Chinese governing authorities have engaged in political discourse via the Internet from the late 1990s through to the present. It argues that traditional dichotomies such as 'authoritarianism' versus 'democracy' and 'state' versus 'society' must be discarded and replaced. The chapter proposes broader conceptualizations of 'democracy' and of the 'political', as well as a heterogeneous view of the various individuals and groups that constitute Chinese society and the Chinese political system. China's citizens eagerly have utilized the virtual space of the Chinese Internet to initiate and participate in discussions and actions that have had real political consequences. Citizens regularly have used the Internet to vent their anger about socioeconomic inequalities and injustices – not infrequently creating online 'storms' that involve tens of thousands of netizens.
