With the rapid development and wide popularity of the Internet, Chinese people have acquired a revolutionary channel to mobilize collective action and to participate in politics. In order to depict the various factors influencing online collective action in China, and to further explore the dynamic interaction between the Chinese authorities and the public in this new era of collective action, the article attempts to integrate the demand-supply model with relevant studies from both China and abroad to make a systematic analysis of the demand, supply and mobilization of Chinese online activism. The impact of the new communication technology on political participation and the political ecology is discussed and questions are raised for future research.
AlbericiAIMilesiP (2016) Online discussion, politicized identity, and collective action. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations19(1): 43–59.
2.
BallaSJ (2012) Information technology, political participation, and the evolution of Chinese policymaking. Journal of Contemporary China21(76): 655–673.
3.
BennettWLSegerbergA (2011) Digital media and the personalization of collective action: Social technology and the organization of protests against the global economic crisis. Information, Communication and Society14(6): 770–799.
4.
BennettWLSegerbergA (2012) The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication and Society15(5): 739–768.
5.
BimberB (1998) The Internet and political transformation: Populism, community, and accelerated pluralism. Polity31(1): 133–160.
6.
BimberB (2017) Three prompts for collective action in the context of digital media. Political Communication34(1): 6–20.
7.
BimberBFlanaginAJStohlC (2005) Reconceptualizing collective action in the contemporary media environment. Communication Theory15(4): 365–388.
8.
BrunstingSPostmesT (2002) Social movement participation in the digital age. Small Group Research33: 525–554.
9.
ChanM (2016) Media use and the social identity model of collective action: Examining the roles of online alternative news and social media news. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly94(3): 663–681.
10.
CastellsM (2004) The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
11.
ChenJXuY (2017) Information manipulation and reform in authoritarian regimes. Political Science Research and Methods5(1): 163–178.
12.
CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Centre) (2017) The statistics report of the Internet development in China (33th edn). (Chinese)
13.
DolataUSchrapeJF (2016) Masses, crowds, communities, movements: Collective action in the internet age. Social Movement Studies15(1): 1–18.
14.
DuJF (2009) A study on the categories of internet mass. Journal of International Communication7(1): 76–80. (Chinese)
15.
DuZZhangD (2018) Technology empowerment and power transition: Evolution of network political ecology. Journal of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Social Science Edition)31(1): 26–31. (Chinese)
16.
EarlJ (2010) The dynamics of protest-related diffusion on the web. Information, Communication and Society13(2): 209–225.
17.
EarlJ (2013) Spreading the word or shaping the conversation: ‘Prosumption’ in protest websites. Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change36: 3–38.
18.
EarlJKimportK (2009) Movement societies and digital protest: Fan activism and other nonpolitical protest online. Sociological Theory27(3): 220–243.
19.
EarlJSchussmanA (2002) The new site of activism: On-line organizations, movement entrepreneurs, and the changing location of social movement decision making. Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change24: 155–187.
20.
EarlJKimportKPrietoGet al. (2010) Changing the world one webpage at a time: Conceptualizing and explaining Internet activism. Mobilization: An International Quarterly15(4): 425–446.
21.
EsareyAQiangX (2008) Political expression in the Chinese blogosphere: Below the radar. Asian Survey48(5): 752–772.
22.
EsareyAXiaoQ (2011) Digital communication and political change in China. International Journal of Communication5: 298–319.
23.
FuD (2016) Disguised collective action in china. Comparative Political Studies49(4): 49–93.
24.
FuJSShumateM (2016) Hyperlinks as Institutionalized Connective Public Goods for Collective Action Online. Chichester: John Wiley.
25.
GaidytėT (2012) Trust: The notion and its transformation in mature and post-communist democracies. Lithuanian Foreign Policy Review27: 35–60.
26.
GaidytėTMuisJKlandermansB (2015) Why are citizens in post-communist countries less politically active than in West European societies? The contextual impact of social trust. In: Explaining Political Participation in Mature and Post-communist Democracies: Why Social Trust Matters?Doctoral dissertation. Amsterdam: VU-University, pp. 109–143.
27.
GöbelCOngL (2012) Social unrest in China. Long briefing document, Europe China Research and Academic Network, Social Science Electronic Publishing.
28.
GongHYangX (2010) Digitized parody: The politics of egao in contemporary China. China Information24(1): 3–26.
29.
GuoXAWangGH (2012) Conception and indexes of online mass events. Journal of Intelligence31 (2): 6–11. (Chinese)
30.
HuangHBoranbayakanSHuangL (2016) Media, protest diffusion, and authoritarian resilience. Political Science Research and Methods. Epub ahead of print 13 June 2016. DOI: 10.1017/psrm.2016.25
31.
InglehartRWelzelC (2010) Changing mass priorities: The link between modernization and democracy. Perspectives on Politics8(2): 551–567.
32.
JiangX (2000) Legal consciousness in the ‘follow-up reports’. News Frontier7: 23–26. (Chinese)
KellyGR (2006) Protest in an information society: A review of literature on social movements and new ICTs. Information, Communication and Society9(2): 202–224.
35.
KingGPanJRobertsME (2013) How censorship in China allows government criticism but silences collective expression. American Political Science Review107(2): 326–343.
36.
KingGPanJRobertsME (2014) Reverse-engineering censorship in China: Randomized experimentation and participant observation. Science345(6199): 1–10.
37.
KingGPanJRobertsME (2017) How the Chinese government fabricates social media posts for strategic distraction, not engaged argument. American Political Science Review111(3): 484–501.
38.
KlandermansBKriesiHTarrowSG (1988) International Social Movement Research (Vol. 1). Stamford, CT: Jai Press.
39.
KlandermansB (1997) The Social Psychology of Protest. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
40.
KlandermansB (2002) The demand and supply of participation: Social-psychological correlates of participation in social movements. Revista Psicologia Politica2: 360–379.
41.
KlandermansBOegemaD (1987) Potentials, networks, motivations, and barriers: Steps towards participation in social movements. American Sociological Review52: 519–531.
42.
KlandermansBVan StekelenburgJ (2013) Social movements and the dynamics of collective action. In: HuddyDOSLLevyJL (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology (2nd edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
43.
LeiYW (2011) The political consequences of the rise of the Internet: Political beliefs and practices of Chinese Netizens. Political Communication28(3): 291–322.
44.
LiLRZhengWZhangS (2013) The outbreak mechanism of online mass events: ‘Dissemination property’ and ‘event property’ – qualitative comparison based on 195 cases (QCA). Modern Communication: Journal of Communication University of China2(1): 25–34. (Chinese)
45.
LiPLChenGJZhangY (2013) The Analysis and Forecast of the Society of China 2014. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press. (Chinese)
46.
LipsetSM (1959) Some social requisites of democracy: Economic development and political legitimacy. American Political Science Review53(1): 69–105.
47.
LiuH (2012) The re-definition of the crowd event online. E-Government4: 010. (Chinese)
48.
LiuN (2008) Some theoretical thinking about mass collective action in contemporary China: Based on the observation of experience cases. Open Times3: 110–123. (Chinese)
49.
LiuN (2009) Collective action in contemporary social transformation in China: A review of three waves of collective action in the past thirty years. Sea of Knowledge4: 146–152. (Chinese)
50.
McCarthyJDZaldMN (1987) Social Movements in an Organizational Society. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
51.
MengTPanJYangP (2017) Conditional receptivity to citizen participation: Evidence from a survey experiment in China. Comparative Political Studies50(4): 399–433.
52.
Opp K-D (2012) Collective identity, rationality and collective political action. Rationality and Society24(1): 73–105.
53.
PanJ (2017) How market dynamics of domestic and foreign social media firms shape strategies of internet censorship. Problems of Post-Communism64(3–4): 167–188.
54.
PanJXuY (2015) China’s ideological spectrum. The Journal of Politics80(1): 254–273.
55.
PavanE (2017) The integrative power of online collective action networks beyond protest: Exploring social media use in the process of institutionalization. Social Movement Studies16(4): 433–446.
56.
PeiM (2000) Rights and resistance: The changing context of the dissident movement in China. In: ElizabethJPMarkS (eds) Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, pp. 49–74.
57.
PollettaFChenPGardnerBMotesA (2013) Is the Internet creating new reasons to protest? In: Van StekelenburgJRoggebandCKlandermansB (eds) Dynamics, Mechanisms, and Processes: The Future of Social Movement Research. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 17–36.
58.
QiuJX (2009) Justify for ‘online public opinion’: Thinking about the proper concept of ‘online mass incidents’. Social Science of Jiangsu6: 91–95. (Chinese)
59.
QiuLLinHChiuCYLiuP (2014) Online collective behaviors in China: Dimensions and motivations. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy15(1): 44–68.
60.
RenJJ (2008) ‘Web justice’ or ‘web riot’: Analyze collective behavior of internet users from several web moral hunting events. Tribune of Social Science (Volume of Academic Research)3: 45–49. (Chinese)
61.
RoggebandCDuyvendakJW (2013) The changing supply side of mobilization: Questions for discussion. In: Van StekelenburgJRoggebandCKlandermansB (eds) The Future of Social Movement Research: Dynamics, Mechanisms, and Processes. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 95–106.
62.
ShengQZGaoSY (2013) Opinion leaders of Chinese microblogs: Features, types and development trends. Journal of Northeastern University (Social Science)15(4): 381–385. (Chinese)
63.
ShiFCaiY (2006) Disaggregating the state: Networks and collective resistance in Shanghai. The China Quarterly186: 314–332.
64.
ShiZZ (2009) Communication and dialogue: Civil society and media public space. Chinese Journal of Journalism and Communication12: 81–86. (Chinese)
65.
SnowDABenfordRD (1988) Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization. International Social Movement Research1(1): 197–217.
66.
SnowDABenfordRD (2000) Clarifying the relationship between framing and ideology in the study of social movements: A comment on Oliver and Johnston. Mobilization5(1): 55–72.
67.
SongS (2013) The use of Web2.0 style technologies among Chinese civil society organizations. Telematics and Informatics30(4): 346–358.
68.
StockmannD (2015) Big data from China and its implication for the study of the Chinese state: A research report on the 2014 HongKong protests on weibo. In: Annual Meeting of the American Association of Asian Studies, Chicago, USA, 26–29 March 2015, pp. 1–41. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2607998 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2607998
69.
StockmannDLuoT (2015a) Which social media facilitate online public opinion in China?Problems of Post-Communism64(3–4): 189–202.
SvenssonM (2014) Voice, power and connectivity in China’s microblogosphere: Digital divides on SinaWeibo. China Information28(2): 168–188.
72.
Van LaerJVan AelstP (2010) Internet and social movement action repertoires. Information, Communication and Society13(8): 1146–1171.
73.
Van StekelenburgJKlandermansB (2013) The social psychology of protest. Current Sociology61(5–6): 886–905.
74.
Van StekelenburgJKlandermansB (2014) Fitting demand and supply: How identification brings appeals and motives together. Social Movement Studies13(2): 179–203.
75.
Van StekelenburgJKlandermansBVan DijkWW (2009) Context matters: Explaining how and why mobilizing context influences motivational dynamics. Journal of Social Issues65(4): 815–838.
76.
Van ZomerenMLouisWR (2017) Culture meets collective action: Exciting synergies and some lessons to learn for the future:. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations20(3): 277–284.
77.
WhiteGHowellJAXiaoYS (1996) In Search of Civil Society: Market Reform and Social Change in Contemporary China. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
78.
WuAX (2013) Ideological polarization over a China-as-superpower mindset: An exploratory charting of belief systems among Chinese internet users, 2008–2011. International Journal of Communication8: 2243–2272.
79.
XueTChenHYueGAYaoQ (2013) Collective action participation: Effects of multiple social identities on group-based emotions and efficacy paths. Acta Psychologica Sinica45(8): 899–920. (Chinese)
80.
XueTChenHYueGAYaoQ (2014) Predicting independently or impacting fundamentally: The influence of value on collective action. Psychological Exploration34(1): 68–76. (Chinese)
81.
YangG (2000) Achieving emotions in collective action: Emotional processes and movement mobilization in the 1989 Chinese Student Movement. The Sociological Quarterly41(4): 593–614
82.
YangG (2003) The co-evolution of the Internet and civil society in China. Asian Survey43(3): 405–422.
YangG (2009a) The Internet as cultural form: Technology and the human condition in China. Knowledge, Technology and Policy22(2): 109–115.
85.
YangG (2009b) Of sympathy and play: Emotional mobilization in online collective action. The Chinese Journal of Communication and Society9: 39–66.
86.
YangG (2009c) The Power of the Internet in China. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 1109–1114.
87.
YangG (2014a) Internet activism and the party-state in China. Daedalus143(2): 110–123.
88.
YangG (2014b) Political contestation in Chinese digital spaces: Deepening the critical inquiry. China Information28(2): 135–144.
89.
YangG (2014c) The return of ideology and the future of Chinese internet policy. Critical Studies in Media Communication31(2): 109–113.
90.
YangG (2016) Narrative agency in hashtag activism: The case of #blacklivesmatter. Media and Communication4(4): 13–17.
91.
YangGJiangM (2015) The networked practice of online political satire in China: Between ritual and resistance. International Communication Gazette77(3): 215–231.
92.
YangGWuS (2018) Remembering disappeared websites in China: Passion, community, and youth. New Media and Society20(6): 2107–2124.
93.
YangJH (2009) On the current network groups events and their management in China. Journal of Jilin Normal University (Humanities and Social Science Edition)4: 30–33.
94.
YinJHeF (2011) Micro-propagation shapes new media environment: The analysis of the micro-blog’s current development status and communication characteristics. Journal of Henan University (Social Science)51(3): 124–129. (Chinese)
95.
YueGAXueT (2011) The theoretical interpretation model on the internet collective behaviors. Nankai University (Philosophy and Social Science)5: 116–123. (Chinese)
96.
YueGAXueTChenH (2010) Definition and classification of collective behavior online. Journal of Chinese People’s Public Security University (Social Sciences Edition)6: 99–104. (Chinese)
97.
ZhangMJChenP (2012) The basic trend and theoretical contemplation of typical mass events of 2011 in China. Contemporary World and Socialism1: 028. (Chinese)
98.
ZhangZA (2012) The research report of the micro-blog’s opinion leaders in China. Chinese Public Opinion Website. (Chinese)
99.
ZhaoDX (1998) Ecologies of social movements: Student mobilization during the 1989 prodemocracy movement in Beijing. American Journal of Sociology103(6): 1493–1529.
100.
ZhengSF (2003) Lessons from the successful exposure of the mine disaster in Nandan. News Frontier9: 18–20. (Chinese)
101.
ZhengYWuG (2005) Information technology, public space, and collective action in China. Comparative Political Studies38(5): 507–536.
102.
ZhengYZhangC (2012) Cyberactivism and collective agency: Cases from China. In: HercheuiMDWhitehouseDMcIverM JrPhahlamohlakaJ (eds) ICT Critical Infrastructures and Society. Berlin: Springer, pp. 310–319.
103.
ZhuJHuangHZhangD (2017) ‘Big tigers, big data’: Learning social reactions to China’s anticorruption campaign through online feedback. Public Administration Review. Epub ahead of print 24 October 2017. DOI: 10.1111/puar.12866
104.
ZhuJLuJShiT (2013) When grapevine news meets mass media: Different information sources and perceptions of government corruption in mainland China. Comparative Political Studies46(8): 920–946.
