Moving beyond democratization: a thought piece on the China internet research agenda

In this short essay, I will first discuss some major limitations of examining the Internet’s place in China from the democratization perspective. I then introduce the concept of mediation as an alternative conception of China Internet studies. Here, I draw upon Silverstone’s elaboration that “mediation is a fundamentally dialectical notion which requires us to address the processes of communication as both institutionally and technologically driven and embedded” (2005, p. 189). I am not necessarily arguing for one approach to replace the other, but, rather, trying to expand the scope of our scholarly inquiry.