In What Way Has the Internet Changed China - Essay Example

In what way has the internet changed China? Name Course Date Introduction During a few decades until present, with the development of technology and science in China, it has undergone a dramatic change in culture structure and people’s lifestyle. It is acknowledged that political strategy will affect the improvement of domestic economy, and the overall development of one’s country is influenced by the economy. However, technology has gradually played an essential role in the world stage. After the 1989, China Special Economic Zone opened to the global, there is an increasing number of foreign investment and advanced technology coming to China. This is because of the cheap labor and low taxation. During the twenty-year development, China was already regarded as one of the core manipulators of world economy, especially in the Asian region. In 2001, China became a member of WTO (World Trade Organization). It is at this time that China aroused world attention again, which also attracted more foreign direct investment and promoted economic activates in the same time. However, with the improvement of people’s living standard, and the widely utilization of technology, the Internet has become a part of modern people’s life. Diversified information and efficient propagation method have become the reason why the Internet has spread rapidly (Zheng 2004). From 1987 the first time the Internet ceremonial operation started in China until present, it has played an important role in various fields, like commercial competition, informational communication, and social network (Yang 2013). It is obvious to find that the Internet has already gradually changed China, and world. It has not only effected people’s daily life, but has also influenced social, political, economy and even the cultural structure. This research paper is going to answer the question, ‘In what ways has internet changed China?’ based mainly on personal analyze and required reading. In the transition paragraph, I will briefly introduce the history of the Internet in China, and how it developed, the body paragraph will include the three ways on how the Internet has changed China. In what way has the internet changed China? China is on the path to be one of the super powers in the world. Since 1987 when the market reforms and internet were launched, the country’s size of the economy has quadrupled and it is estimated that within the next decade it will double again (Zheng 2004). The country has turned out to be a major manufacturing point which takes up roughly one third of the worldwide supply of steel, coal and iron. The country has accumulated immense foreign reserves, which were estimated to be greater than $1 trillion by the close of the year in 2006 (Yang 2013). The military spending of the country has gone up by 18 percent inflation adjusted rate annually while the diplomacy has expanded to accommodate Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America (Yang 2013). To be sure, while the Soviet Union matched the United States as a military contender just, China is developing as both a military and a monetary opponent proclaiming a significant move in the appropriation of worldwide force (Zheng 2004). Over the last decade, the online publication has transformed through three phases of infancy, development and expansion. The internet in China has influenced the Chinese life in enormous ways. The China government has also fumbled about its way via the procedure of online communal outlook (Yang 2013). The infancy stage China formally joined exhaustively with the web in 1994 and after this present web's impact totally and significantly leaked into individuals' political, financial and social lives (Zheng 2004). This turned into a vital means and technique for news media occasions. In 2000, the nation's web expertise penetrated the Web 1.0 period, which took the advancement of web advances and started vigorously the environment of online popular opinion (Harwit & Clark 2001). It is believed that May 9, 1999, when People's Daily Online arranged for the huge Nation meeting to sort out imperviousness to the bombarding on the Chinese consulate in Belgrade, which was conducted by U.S NATO forces was a historic point for household websites being used as an avenue for expressing the opinions of the public (Yang 2013). Nonetheless, due to restrictions in internet innovativeness and lack of computer penetration in the country, online public sentiment have not yet been systematized and advanced. Just when significant occurrences happened, especially major political occasions, did individuals turn to web gatherings to express their own particular suppositions (Harwit & Clark 2001). Although dialect was routinely erased or constrained by discussion administrators, therefore their impact was still moderately frail, and as a rule this stage simply opened the drape for the advancement of online general sentiment (Weber & Jia 2007). Development stage The public online opinion developed to be strong in the year 2003 (Weber & Jia 2007). The online forums became an imperative force in the discussion of Iraq war, BMW death case, SARS outbreak, Sun Zhigand case in addition to other stories. The online forums turned out to influence the advancement of these cases (Yang 2013). 2003 was referred to as a year of public sentiment by some people in which the online public sentiment left the periphery to be part of the main stream (Yang 2003). Since then, the online public sentiment has grown stronger each and every day, being made up of energetic field of public conversation. The conversation also shifted from more unimportant issues to conventional matters like national strengthening, political and social stability and social development (Tyler 2002). It was during this stage that the online public sentiments played a major role in influencing the China government and policies for the first time. It turned out to be a system of checking and monitoring the authority and the powers of the government, advancing judicial fairness via the enormous pressure of the public opinion (Tyler 2002). This had a major impact for the online public sentiments in addition to the public opinion in a more extensive sense. After the demise of Sun Zhigang plus the consequent opinions and reporting, the structure of repatriation and detention was long forgotten. During the same period, the Shenzhen gang leader case, Liu Yong was a turning point to promotion of reforms in the country’s judicial system (Harwit & Clark 2001). The discussions were not just virtual online societies anymore, but they were by now entrusted with authentic features of a public community. Majority of the population in China turned to internet to make their demands known, take part in political and social life, scrutinize the government’s authority as well as persuade the government public policies. Subsequent to 2003, as a moderately open communal platform, internet which was a new form of media has a progressive more powerful manipulation in the fields of government supervision, social disclosure and structuring the communal opinion (Yang 2003). Throughout this stage, a major reason for the quick expansion of the online communal opinion was the shortage of the sincerity of the administration information. There was restriction and even absolute destruction of data at its starting place. Through this, the customary media had no means of providing effective and timely propagation of information and news (Yang 2013). All this happened while individuals had pressing demands to recognize the appropriate information and deduce their views (Weber & Jia 2007). As a result of the situation, the internet emerged and filled the void left by the customary media, gratifying the role of the media that the society was missing. Since SARS was rampant, for instance, the administration cracked down on the significant information, the government pressure forced the customary media to remain quiet. Due to the panic, individuals had no other means of being informed through the usual channel prompting them to turn to online forums in search for information (Harwit & Clark 2001). Expansion In the recent past, the web 2.0 has turned out to be the internet’s brilliant point. Web 2.0 has primarily turned out to be the solution to the requirement for interpersonal exchange, interaction, participation and communication. Web 2.0 is vested with well built flexibility and autonomy. Being a communication tool, it has provided individuals with a great amount of self governance via the three characteristics of information decision making authority, personalization and decentralization (Weber & Jia 2007). Due to web 2.0, podcast, blogs plus extra personal media has developed the platforms of disseminating information, articulating views in addition to continuing with the conversation (Weber & Jia 2007). Most of the subjects of conversation are nowadays initially brought out through blogs plus other private media. After the topics become heated up in the public online discussion and providing specific influence, the customary media takes up the opinions and does a follow up with an in depth analysis of the issues (Tyler 2002). Together with the growth of podcast, private media and blogs, ordinary public members freely express their views and share their information. The common population can also provide new stories like trendy news; take part in the state affairs discussion in addition to contributing to policy ideas (Yang 2003). The individuals can also encourage different social activities online like anti Japanese protests, or Carrefour, or boycotts. Web 2.0 expertises have turned personal media to be an innovative force in the general communication mix up, comprising of a common impact with the customary media, and they promote strongly the growth and expansion of the internet public view (Harwit & Clark 2001). During this stage of growth and expansion there is no running away from the fact that internet public opinion has provided a revolutionary effect on the customary public view framework. This effect is substantiated predominantly by the fact that the internet public opinion represents a conventional force in communication between the people and the administration (Tyler 2002). In 2006, prime minister Wen Jiabao reacted to the expressions of English internet clients at a press conference in the two gatherings of the National People's Congress and People's Political Consultative Congress. He communicated in a business like motion the essentialness the legislature set on internet public notion and prevalent guidance (Harwit & Clark 2001). President Hu Jintao on June 20, 2008, intermingled straightforwardly with web clients on People's Daily Online's Solid Nation discussion throughout the People's Daily tour (Yang 2013). Altogether demonstrating the need the country government and leadership placed on online general opinion, and reducing the separation between the administration, rights and the individuals (Zheng 2004). For the period of "evading the cat" undertaking of 2009, the sorting out by purposeful publicity dominant voices in Yunnan of a group of web clients to investigative the case was an attestation of the quality of internet general opinion, and was a formidable show of the legislature opening up government data (Weber & Jia 2007). The other indication of the internet public notion persuasion is the impact it had on the way the news in China is reported. During the customary public notion surrounding, the conventional media had the power to determine the public agenda and provide public perception. With regards to setting the agenda and the efficiency of transmission, the online media has influenced the conventional news (Weber & Jia 2007). As of late, conventional media has interacted with the online media and the agenda of conventional media has been set by the online media. This role of interaction has given the conventional media sources of their news. The reports that they produce founded on these sources are amplified through online discussion and dissemination, surpassing or attaining the projected level of manipulation (Tyler 2002). Conclusion In conclusion, the quick growth and expansion of the internet in China has provided new challenges to the country where the government has time and again censored information. The internet has deregulated and decentralized the media. This has made the government control over the media a difficult undertaking. Societal anxiety has gone up while the gap between the poor and the rich has increased. Nevertheless, significant advantages have been realized, particularly using the internet public opinions as a watch dog. It also should be noted that the internet is a double edged sword. A lot of information posted in the internet has also been suspected to be false since anybody can say anything secretly about any topic that at times may cause the public to panic (Yang 2003). In China, the internet altered the public notion, it has also changed the China’s trajectory. The growth and expansion process is painful, some organizations and individuals have paid the price, and on the other hand, the process brings development within the society. References Harwit, E & Clark, D 2001. Shaping the internet in China. Evolution of political control over network infrastructure and content, Asian Survey, Vol. 41, No.3, pp 377-408. Tyler, T. R 2002, Is the Internet changing social life? It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 58, No.1, pp 195-205. Weber, I & Jia, L 2007, Internet and self-regulation in China: the cultural logic of controlled commodification, Media, Culture & Society, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp 772-789. Yang, G 2003, The co-evolution of the Internet and civil society in China, Asian Survey, Vol.43, No. 3, pp 405-422. Yang, G 2013, The power of the Internet in China: Citizen activism online, Columbia, Columbia University Press. Zheng, Y 2004. Globalization and state transformation in China, London, Cambridge University Press. Read More