Political Participation In China's Rise: Conditions, Form And Prospects

This thesis is aimed at looking into the effects brought about by the information technology in terms of political participation in China. Since mid-1990s, the number of Chinese internet users has been increasing at high rates, which results in the same sharp increase of the internet activists. The internet constructs a fresh sphere of public opinion, plays an important role in the organizing process of citizens and in the meanwhile it turns out sorts of political men, including the political elites and the new knowledge elites. Such a change is posing high pressure onto the political system and putting forward the questions like: to what extent the internet-mediated political participation has reshaped the political rules? Will it destroy the political system in China?The study concludes that the net-mediated politics will in no way outgrow the political process and, in the near future ,it remains a political game of minorities.