Overview

"Nationalism, in China as much as elsewhere, is today adopted, filtered, transformed, enhanced, and accelerated through digital networks. And as we have increasingly seen, nationalism in digital spheres interacts in complicated ways with nationalism ""on the ground"". If we are to understand the social and political complexities of the twenty-first century, we need to ask: what happens to nationalism when it goes digital? In China's Digital Nationalism, Florian Schneider explores the issue by looking at digital China first hand, exploring what search engines, online encyclopedias, websites, hyperlink networks, and social media can tell us about the way that different actors construct and manage a crucial topic in contemporary Chinese politics: the protracted historical relationship with neighbouring Japan. Using two cases, the infamous Nanjing Massacre of 1937 and the ongoing disputes over islands in the East China Sea, Schneider shows how various stakeholders in China construct networks and deploy power to shape nationalism for their own ends. These dynamics provide crucial lessons on how nation states adapt to the shifting terrain of the digital age and highlight how digital nationalism is today an emergent property of complex communication networks."

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9780190876807

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Rising nationalism in contemporary China has attracted a lot of scholarly and media attention in recent decades. As China rapidly enters the digital age, and as the number of its internet users increases exponentially, this book contributes to the growing literature on Chinese nationalism by focusing on the complicated interactions between nationalism developed and transformed by various political and social actors in digital spheres and nationalism on the ground. In some ways, this book builds on the already familiar thesis of nations as imagined communities, but through the new lens of digital networks enabled by the internet and information technologies. Its in-depth analysis provides a valuable perspective on the fascinating metamorphosis of Chinese nationalism in the digital age and its broad implications for communication governance under authoritarianism. * C. Chen, University at Albany, SUNY, CHOICE * Schneider's book develops a powerful critique of current literatures on nationalism, cyber politics, and China studies, while providing a thought-provoking interpretation of digital nationalism in China as a technological, social, economic, and political phenomenon.Despite the theoretical and conceptual complexity, the book is written in a highly accessible fashion. Students of China studies, digital media, identity politics, and authoritarian politics should certainly read it. Readers with or without background knowledge about China, nationalism, or digital media but are interested in these topics will enjoy it. * Rongbin Han, University of Georgia *

Schneider's book develops a powerful critique of current literatures on nationalism, cyber politics, and China studies, while providing a thought-provoking interpretation of digital nationalism in China as a technological, social, economic, and political phenomenon.Despite the theoretical and conceptual complexity, the book is written in a highly accessible fashion. Students of China studies, digital media, identity politics, and authoritarian politics should certainly read it. Readers with or without background knowledge about China, nationalism, or digital media but are interested in these topics will enjoy it. * Rongbin Han, University of Georgia * Rising nationalism in contemporary China has attracted a lot of scholarly and media attention in recent decades. As China rapidly enters the digital age, and as the number of its internet users increases exponentially, this book contributes to the growing literature on Chinese nationalism by focusing on the complicated interactions between nationalism developed and transformed by various political and social actors in digital spheres and nationalism on the ground. In some ways, this book builds on the already familiar thesis of nations as imagined communities, but through the new lens of digital networks enabled by the internet and information technologies. Its in-depth analysis provides a valuable perspective on the fascinating metamorphosis of Chinese nationalism in the digital age and its broad implications for communication governance under authoritarianism. * C. Chen, University at Albany, SUNY, CHOICE *

Rising nationalism in contemporary China has attracted a lot of scholarly and media attention in recent decades. As China rapidly enters the digital age, and as the number of its internet users increases exponentially, this book contributes to the growing literature on Chinese nationalism by focusing on the complicated interactions between nationalism developed and transformed by various political and social actors in digital spheres and nationalism on the ground. In some ways, this book builds on the already familiar thesis of nations as imagined communities, but through the new lens of digital networks enabled by the internet and information technologies. Its in-depth analysis provides a valuable perspective on the fascinating metamorphosis of Chinese nationalism in the digital age and its broad implications for communication governance under authoritarianism. * C. Chen, University at Albany, SUNY, CHOICE *

Author Information

Florian Schneider is University Lecturer for the Politics of Modern China at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. He is also managing editor of the journal Asiascape: Digital Asia, and the author of Visual Political Communication in Popular Chinese Television Series (Brill 2013). His research interests include questions of governance, political communication, digital media, and international relations in the East-Asian region.

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