Overview

The Sage Handbook of Chinese Digital Media and Communication is the first comprehensive reference work dedicated to the fast-evolving field of digital media and communication in China. Marking three decades since China’s official connection to the internet, this landmark volume brings together leading scholars from across the globe to examine the profound transformations digital technologies have brought to Chinese society, politics, culture, and economy. Spanning activism, governance, labor, industry, everyday life, and research methods, the handbook offers a critical and interdisciplinary survey of the field. It explores how the internet and digital media have reshaped political participation, civil society, and national identity; how state regulation and surveillance intersect with innovation and platformization; and how digital labor, fandom, gaming, and e-commerce are redefining cultural production, consumption and economy. It also reflects on the lived experiences of users, from parenting and diaspora to queer communities and mobile rituals. Structured across five thematic parts, the volume not only maps the current landscape of Chinese digital media and communication but also interrogates the knowledge production that has shaped the field. It invites dialogue with global digital media scholarship and offers a timely reflection on the past, present, and future of China’s digital transformation. The Sage Handbook of Chinese Digital Media and Communication is an indispensable resource for scholars, researchers, and students seeking a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted landscape of Chinese digital media and communication. By examining past achievements, current trends, and future prospects, this collective effort establishes a foundation for advancing knowledge and fostering meaningful dialogues in this rapidly evolving field. Part 1: Activism, Civil Society and Politics Part 2: Technology, Regulation and Governance Part 3: Platform, Labor and Industry Part 4: User, Culture and Everyday Life Part 5: Method, Approach and Reflections

Full Product Details

9781529681499

Table of Contents

Reviews

This volume stands as a landmark achievement — a comprehensive, systematic, and up-to-date mapping of China’s digital transformation. It brings together leading scholars to dissect the shifting terrains of civil society and politics, technology regulation and governance, digital platforms and labor, user cultures and everyday life. With analytical rigor and a keen sense of critical reflection, the book illuminates not only the architectures of power and participation but also the struggles and negotiations that define China’s digital present. For scholars and advanced students in the humanities, social sciences, and technology policy, this handbook is indispensable. It offers both breadth and depth, equipping readers to understand, critique, and re-imagine the future of Chinese digital media and communication.   -- Professor Jack Linchuan Qiu As one of the first and most comprehensive works in the field, this book breaks new ground in the analysis of digital China. By systematically integrating diverse dimensions—including established and emerging scholars, industry and culture, historical and contemporary perspectives, policy and user studies, as well as new media platforms and digital labor—it offers a uniquely holistic understanding of Chinese digital media. The volume presents innovative and distinctive interpretations of the emergence and development of Chinese digital communication. Its rich empirical insights shed light on the complex interplay among media scholars, students, policymakers, and IT professionals. The contributors position their analysis not solely within a national framework, but within a global context, enhancing the volume’s relevance and significance. This book is an essential resource for scholars and students engaged in the study of Chinese digital media and communication.   -- Professor Dal Yong Jin ""This phenomenal handbook offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date analyses of key issues in the study of Chinese internet and digital media in one volume. Featuring leading scholars from around the world, it provides an indispensable roadmap for future research in this rich and dynamic field. Highly recommended!""   -- Professor Guobin Yang Grasping the variety and complexity of media in and from China, and China′s related policy environment, is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the field of media studies today. This remarkable collection brings together a truly impressive range of authors and topics in what will instantly become an essential primer for understanding contemporary China′s multiple media worlds.    -- Professor Nick Couldry Since China’s official connection to the global internet in 1994, the internet and digital media have profoundly transformed the politics, economy, and culture of Chinese society. This handbook serves as an indispensable resource for scholars and students interested in understanding how the internet and digital technologies have reshaped China and influenced the world over the past three decades.    -- Professor Hu Yong This handbook is a remarkable, interdisciplinary achievement that marks three decades of Chinese Internet studies and digital communication. Covering a wide range of topics, perspectives, theoretical and methodological approaches, this handbook is an indispensable resource to anyone wishing to have a good grasp of the complex digital transformations brought to Chinese society, politics, culture, and economy. -- Professor Min Jiang

Author Information

Dr Jian Xu is Associate Professor in Communication in the School of Communication & Creative Arts, Deakin University, Australia. He convenes the Asian Media, Culture & Society Research Group at Deakin University. He researches Chinese digital media cultures and celebrity studies. He is Editor-in-Chief of Communication Research and Practice, the official journal of the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association (AANZCA). He is the author of Media Events in Web 2.0 China (Liverpool University Press, 2016) and the lead editor of Internet Vulgarities in China (Routledge, 2026) and Asian Celebrity Cultures in the Digital Age (Hong Kong University Press, 2025).      Shaohua Guo is Associate Professor of Chinese at Carleton College. Her research interests focus on contemporary Chinese studies, digital media studies, and cultural studies. She is the author of The Evolution of the Chinese Internet: Creative Visibility in the Digital Public (Stanford University Press 2021). Provost′s Chair Professor Weiyu Zhang is Director of the Civic Tech Lab (www.civictechlab.org), currently located at the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on civic engagement and Information and Communication Technologies, with an emphasis on Asia. She has led on multi-nation projects on youth engagement, online deliberation, and civic tech in Asia. Her current interest is to develop and examine civic tech applications to facilitate citizen deliberation on science topics such as artificial intelligence, Covid-19 vaccines, climate change, and novel food.

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