Social Media and Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo After the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Scandal

• In Event: Social Media, Internet, and Political Deliberation

Abstract

This paper seeks to answer the question of whether micro-blog can function as a promising form of public sphere by examining the political discussion and interrogation on Chinese micro-blog concerning the Wenzhou high-speed rail scandal in July, 2011. Utilizing a combined framework of public sphere based on the theorization of Mouffe and Dahlgren, the paper examines how this scandal is discursively constructed in the discussion on micro-blog through a critical discourse analysis. Its results suggest that the Chinese micro-blog enables the rise of new social imaginary, order of discourse and construction of social reality. The paper proposes a reframing of public sphere and reconsideration of the potential of social media in constituting public sphere in China.

Authors

• Zhou Shan, U of Alabama

• Lu Tang, U of Alabama