The role of copyright in cultural control and resistance in Chinese cyberspace is an under-researched topic. This article studies the copyright controversy of an online video in 2006, as well as the dynamics and features of a social mobilization triggered by the video. It argues that Chinese copyright law has very stringent limitations on ‘fair use’, the use of copyrighted works for public or non-market interest and purposes. Under specific technological and regulatory environments, video-sharing as a new media form showed unique power in resisting cultural control in China, yet it is faced with restraints from a pro-control system of copyright. With the rise of capitalist interests and proprietary control mechanisms in Chinese communications sectors, intellectual property is coming to the core of cultural resistance and repression in China.
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