Internet And The Chinese Hepatitis B Rights Movement

China HBV movement attracts a great attention in contemporary China. Among it, a forum, named'In the Hepatitis B Camp', plays a greatly significant role as the main platform for the movement. The study focuses on the forum to explore how the Internet influences China HBV movement. Integrating three main social movement theories (RM theory, PP theory and NSMs theory), the study develops a conceptual framework to identify and evaluate the role of the Internet in social movements on three aspects:mobilizing resources, creating political opportunities and shaping collective identities. The study fills a gap of the understanding of a particular type of online movement in China which is characterized by lack of social movement organization and subject to strict official regulations.The study has conducted email-interviews with eleven activists on the forum. The interview results suggest that the Internet is effective in shaping activists' collective identity in social movements, but it is a limited tool for mobilizing resources and creating political opportunities. The activists share a strong collective identity, and the forum shapes their collective identity through two process:(1) the forum plays as alternative media for HBV carriers to develop a resistant cognition of the illness against the'old'dominant one output by the mass media; (2) the forum creates a network of relationships for these activists to increase their emotional investment and moral connection, thus generate a sense of "we-ness" and belongings. However, the lack of a formal organization greatly limits the usage of the Internet for mobilization. In addition, it is identified a strong tendency of self-regulation among activists. Hence, the conclusion drawn in this study helps the researchers avoid over-optimistic opinions about the influence of the Internet on social movements.