The internet and new social formation in China: fandom publics in the making

摘要

Weiyu Zhang's longitudinal ethnographic study, The internet and new social formation in China: Fandom publics in the making, focuses on Internet fans and their roles in the formation of a network society in China. The first two chapters clarify confusions and misconceptions of key constructs and introduce the purview of the current research. Zhang begins by refuting the bias against fans as atomized, obsessive and irrational. She argues if publics differ from crowds or masses because they can make critical discussion via communication, then fans should be considered as publics when they take forms of their choice to articulate their interests and stances to the society. After comparing the dichotomous gong and si, or public and private, in Western and Chinese contexts, Zhang proposes a relational concept of publics which emphasizes the mediation of the information and communication technologies (ICTs).