The Peoples’ Republic of China has thoroughly embraced the emerging information technology infrastructure, seeing it as a critical part of becoming an economically advanced and politically powerful nation.  There are several important facets to China’s relationship with information technologies, including governmental priorities and policies, a fear of political and social instability, and the creation of a high tech industry, an educational infrastructure to support that industry, and the social and political issues that accompany high tech innovation. 

The Internet in China Project at the Institute for Pacific Asia will begin to map out some of the dimensions of how ICT’s are transforming Chinese culture, particularly within the larger rubric of globalization.  The project will examine several different issues that have relevance to the study, including governmental policies to regarding internet regulation, the role of news sources and entertainment sites in the viewing habits of Chinese internet participants, and the ways in which China is being transformed by the information age.

Activities: 

Chinese Internet Research Listserve A discussion-oriented listserve serving academics, practitioners, and policymakers on the growth, evolution, and impacts of the Internet in China.  This listserve was identified by Foreign Policy Magazine as a “website that is changing the future.”

China Internet Conference. In 2007, the IPA will host the 5^th annual “Chinese Internet Research Conference,” an annual conference focusing on the development of the Internet and China and the likely cultural, social, legal, and political challenges that ensue. Previous conferences have been held at the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, Michigan State University, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.  

China Internet Bibliography: This updated bibliography features all of the English language published academic literature on the Internet in China. It is also available in endnote format.

Previous Chinese Internet Research Conferences : 

Held at:

Annenberg, May 30-31, 2003

Berkeley, April 30-May 1, 2004

Michigan State, May 23-24, 2005

Singapore, July 21-22, 2006

Published Research: 

Chen Y., and R. Kluver. (2006). Information Society and Privacy in the People’s Republic of China.  Journal of E-Government.

Kluver, R. and Y. Chen (2005). The Internet in China: A meta-review of research.  The Information Society, 21, 4.

Kluver, R. (2005). US and Chinese Policy Expectations of the Internet. China Information, 19, 2. pp. 299-324.

Kluver, R. (2005). The Architecture of Control: a Chinese Strategy for e-Governance, in "The Internet and Governance: The Global Context".  The Journal of Public Policy, 25, 1, 75-97.

Kluver, A. R. (2001). “New media and the end of nationalism: China and the US in a war of words.” Mots Pluriels:18.

R. Kluver. The Internet in China: A Symposium (2004). The International Institute of Asian Affairs newsletter, The International Institute of Asian Studies Newsletter, vol 33.

R. Kluver and J. L. Qiu, (2003). “China, the Internet, and democracy,” In Indrajit Banerjee, Ed. Internet & Democracy in Asia: Rhetoric & Reality. Singapore: Times Academic Press and the Asian Media and Information Centre.

Li X. Qin X., and R. Kluver, (2003). Who Is Setting the Chinese Agenda? The Impact of Online Chatrooms on Party Presses in China. In Asia Encounters the Internet.  KC Ho, Randy Kluver, and Kenneth Yang, Eds. London: Routledge, forthcoming.

R. Kluver. “US Policy on IT and China: Conflict or Cooperation in the New International Information Order,” (2001). Proceedings of the 3rd Asia-Pacific Symposium on Press and Scientific and Social Progress.  Beijing, China: Chinese Society of Science and Technology Journalism.