The Sage Handbook of Chinese Digital Media and Communication

Jian Xu, Shaohua Guo, Weiyu Zhang

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781529681499
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781036238926
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The Sage Handbook of Chinese Digital Media and Communication is the first comprehensive reference work dedicated to the fast-evolving field of digital media and communication in China. Marking three decades since China's official connection to the internet, this landmark volume brings together leading scholars from across the globe to examine the profound transformations digital technologies have brought to Chinese society, politics, culture, and economy.

Spanning activism, governance, labor, industry, everyday life, and research methods, the handbook offers a critical and interdisciplinary survey of the field. It explores how the internet and digital media have reshaped political participation, civil society, and national identity; how state regulation and surveillance intersect with innovation and platformization; and how digital labor, fandom, gaming, and e-commerce are redefining cultural production, consumption and economy. It also reflects on the lived experiences of users, from parenting and diaspora to queer communities and mobile rituals.

Structured across five thematic parts, the volume not only maps the current landscape of Chinese digital media and communication but also interrogates the knowledge production that has shaped the field. It invites dialogue with global digital media scholarship and offers a timely reflection on the past, present, and future of China's digital transformation.

The Sage Handbook of Chinese Digital Media and Communication is an indispensable resource for scholars, researchers, and students seeking a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted landscape of Chinese digital media and communication. By examining past achievements, current trends, and future prospects, this collective effort establishes a foundation for advancing knowledge and fostering meaningful dialogues in this rapidly evolving field.

Part 1: Activism, Civil Society and Politics
Part 2: Technology, Regulation and Governance
Part 3: Platform, Labor and Industry
Part 4: User, Culture and Everyday Life
Part 5: Method, Approach and Reflections

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Notes on Editors and Contributors
• Introduction
• 1 Digital Vigilantism in China: Dynamics and Politics in Networked Justice-Seeking
• 2 Digital Media and Contentious Politics in Hong Kong
• 3 Understanding China’s Digital Feminism: Struggles, Resilience, and Businesses
• 4 China’s Digital Nationalism: Narratives, Technological Affordance, and Practice
• 5 Digital Environmentalism and Nonconfrontational Activism in the Lifeworld
• 6 Activism of No Action: The Lying-Flat Movement in Chinese Cyberspace
• 7 Digital Citizenship of Young People in China
• 8 Public Opinion, Yulun, and Yuqing
• 9 Panda as the Flagship of China’s Digital Diplomacy: Rethinking the Intersection of Network and Emotional Narrative Strategy
• 10 China’s Internet Governance Path: From Great Country to Strong Cyber Country Strategy
• 11 Civilisation, Technology, and Surveillance in the Middle Kingdom
• 12 Communication Politics and the Social Credit System
• 13 Big Data and Public Health Governance: A Review of China’s Health Code System During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• 14 “Double-Bind Regulation” of Private Internet Firms in China: Dilemmas, Autonomy, and Resilience
• 15 Governing Chinese Livestreaming Industries: Historical Regulatory-Industrial Trends and Current Issues
• 16 Tensions and Contradictions in China’s Approach to Artificial Intelligence Governance
• 17 China’s Digital Publishing Transformation: Platformisation, Artificial Intelligence, and Regulatory Complexity
• 18 Cross-Cultural Comparative Platform Studies: Insights From Short Video Research
• 19 The “Unsettling” Political Economy of Communication in China: Reconfigurations of State Power and Financialization of Digital News Industries
• 20 From Weibo to AI: How Research on Digital Journalism Reflects Technological Disruption and Social Change in China
• 21 E-Commerce and Rural Development: Taobao Villages in China
• 22 Wanghong and the Formation of Ethical Subjects in China’s Rural Live E-Commerce
• 23 China’s Digital Fandom and Platformized Affective Labor
• 24 Reconsidering the Globalization of Chinese Digital Games: A Platformization Turn
• 25 Gaming Mobility: Players, Industry, Market, and State Rulemaking in China
• 26 Chinese Digital Giant Going Out Under Digital Transformation and Platformization: Rethinking Tencent’s Pan-Entertainment Strategy
• 27 Digital Media, Chinese Diaspora, and New Transnational Subjects: A Case Study From Australia
• 28 Digital Media Use by Gay Men in China: A Literature Review
• 29 The Remaking of an Underclass in Digital China: Contested Voices, Disciplined Cultural Production, and a Rising Lumpen Internet
• 30 Internet Literature in China Revisited
• 31 Revisiting Web 2.0 via Blogs: A Comparative Study of Mainland China and Taiwan
• 32 Understanding Digital Parenting in Urban China: The Intermediary Roles of the State, School, and Family
• 33 Routinizing Technology: Mobile Payments and the Reinvention of Social Interactions in China
• 34 Digital Ethnography in, on, and Through China: A Methodological History
• 35 How to Use Computational Methods and Online Experiments to Study Chinese Digital Media
• 36 Researching Chinese Internet History: A Social Memory Perspective
• 37 Researching China’s Digital Industries: A Critical Political Economy Perspective
• Index