Network Public Opinion, Public Policy Implications

In the traditional decision-making system of China, government plays a leading role in policymaking and resource allocation. Since the commence of Chinese Reform and Opening Up, it is government that has put all the significant reform measures, which are closely related to the interests of Chinese people, into effect from above to below. However, with the transform of the society and the diversification of the interests of Chinese people, their needs to claim and uphold their own rights and benefits have also been intensified. Therefore, government must learn to take public opinion into consideration when processing complicated public affairs in order to build up a more efficient public policy system. Thanks to the boom of Internet and the development of informationization promoted by government, the number of internet users in China has been steadily increased in these years. And because of the openness and interactiveness of Internet, it has become a vital platform for Chinese people to express their emotions and ideas. It gradually evolves the influential Internet Public Opinion (IPO), which, to some extent, entitles Chinese people more discourse right and has impacted the governmental administration and public policy making. The advent of IPO also urges the systematically theoretical research, aiming at analyzing the development of IPO, the interactive relation between IPO and public policy, as well as the influence of IPO on public policy. It helps government to look at IPO objectively and to confront the needs of Chinese people to protect their own rights and benefits, in order to improve the public administration and to establish a harmonious society.This paper compares two incidents that happened in Taihu Lake in Wuxi and Songhua River in a perspective of public right, revealing how Chinese people defense their rights to protect living environments as well as how different ways taken by the government have impacts on IPO. Also, the paper takes www.hbvhbv.com as an example to illustrate how IPO contributes to reshaping the social values and to influencing government preference and public policy. To do so, the paper proposes two hypotheses: first, in a new governmental system, government per se is no longer the sole player, but also IPO, which can to certain degree exert influences on governmental decision-making; second, the power of IPO nevertheless is dependent on several factors such as the transformation of the governmental position, the improvement of IPO itself, and democratic system in public policy, which in turn leads to the limited consequence that IPO can bring about regarding public policy.Based on these two hypotheses, this article concludes with three points. First, whether IPO can have its influence depends on the government preference. Second, it is not recommended to overrate the impact of IPO on public policy. Last but not the least, more regulations can render IPO more positively influential to the society.