published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Qiu Linchuan (Jack). / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-173). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / The Objectives --- p.1 / The Assumptions --- p.2 / The Case --- p.4 / Methods --- p.9 / The Conceptual Framework --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Theoretical Background --- p.18 / Communication Technology as A Democratizer --- p.18 / Democratizer or Something Else? --- p.23 / The Concept of Mediation --- p.27 / The Mediationist Perspective --- p.33 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- China's Cyberspace --- p.37 / China 's Nets and Netizens --- p.40 / Bamboo Curtains Unfurled --- p.53 / Virtual Censorship vs. Mass Media Regulation: a Comparison --- p.67 / Concluding Remarks --- p.75 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- The Processes of Mediation --- p.79 / Internet Audience and Their Exposure --- p.80 / The Rugged Route from Exposure to Expression --- p.88 / The Gap between Virtuality and Reality --- p.98 / Concluding Remarks --- p.108 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- The Consequences of Mediation --- p.110 / Evaluating the Consequences --- p.110 / Selecting Online Arenas --- p.113 / Data Gathering and Coding --- p.119 / Findings --- p.130 / Concluding remarks --- p.147 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Discussions --- p.151 / Summary --- p.151 / Methodological Issues --- p.154 / Broader Implications --- p.164 / Bibliography --- p.169

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences / Department of Communication

Zhang Weiyu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-177). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter I --- Subaltern Public Spheres on the Internet --- p.5 / Democracy and the Internet --- p.5 / Public sphere as a democratic ideal --- p.7 / Chapter ´Ø --- Habermasian public sphere --- p.8 / Chapter ´Ø --- Multiple public spheres --- p.11 / Chapter ´Ø --- Habermasian public sphere vs. multiple public spheres --- p.17 / Public sphere and the Internet --- p.21 / Chapter ´Ø --- Habermasian public sphere on the Internet --- p.23 / Chapter ´Ø --- Multiple public spheres on the Internet --- p.27 / Chapter II --- Subaltern Public Spheres in China --- p.30 / The history of Chinese civil society --- p.30 / Civil society in contemporary China --- p.32 / Chapter ´Ø --- Definitions of civil society --- p.32 / Chapter ´Ø --- Trade union and the caged social organizations --- p.34 / Chapter ´Ø --- Entrepreneurial class and the incorporated social organizations --- p.36 / Chapter ´Ø --- Discussions --- p.38 / Multiple public spheres in contemporary China --- p.39 / Chapter ´Ø --- Mass media and the dominant public sphere --- p.41 / Chapter ´Ø --- The premises of subaltern public sphere in China --- p.42 / Chapter ´Ø --- Subaltern public spheres in contemporary China --- p.44 / Chapter III --- Research Questions and Research Design --- p.48 / Research questions --- p.48 / Research site: an online discussion board of movies --- p.48 / Chapter ´Ø --- Why BBS? --- p.49 / Chapter ´Ø --- Why movies? --- p.51 / Research methods --- p.54 / Chapter IV --- Bulletin Boards as Subaltern Public Spheres --- p.57 / Introduction of Rear Window --- p.58 / Chapter ´Ø --- The development of Rear Window --- p.59 / Chapter ´Ø --- The contents on Rear Window --- p.61 / Chapter ´Ø --- The users of Rear Window --- p.63 / Accessibility of Rear Window --- p.65 / Chapter ´Ø --- Accessibility of the Internet in China --- p.65 / Chapter ´Ø --- Accessibility of xici.net --- p.66 / Chapter ´Ø --- Accessibility of Rear Window --- p.68 / Discourse on RearWindow --- p.73 / Chapter ´Ø --- "Introduction of the discussions about ""Movies are a kind of politics""" --- p.75 / Chapter ´Ø --- The goal of the discussion --- p.77 / Chapter ´Ø --- The equality of the discussion --- p.80 / Chapter ´Ø --- The rationality of the discussion --- p.85 / Chapter ´Ø --- The communicative rationality of the participants --- p.89 / Chapter ´Ø --- Other kinds of discourse --- p.93 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.95 / Chapter V --- Relationships among the Subaltern Public Sphere and the State --- p.98 / The autonomy from the state --- p.100 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control at the level of state --- p.102 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control at the level of websites --- p.107 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control at the level of boardmasters --- p.111 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control through self-censorship --- p.112 / The discursive resistance toward the state --- p.114 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.125 / Chapter VI --- Relationships between the Subaltern Public sphere and the Market Economy --- p.129 / The Internet economy in China and the subaltern public sphere --- p.132 / The pirate movie industry and the subaltern public sphere --- p.138 / Private movie watching and the market economy --- p.142 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.147 / Chapter VII --- Relationships between the Subaltern Public Sphere and the Mass Media --- p.149 / The competition between RearWindow and mass media --- p.151 / The collaboration between RearWindow and mass media --- p.154 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.159 / Discussions and Conclusions --- p.161 / Subaltern public spheres --- p.161 / Democratic potential of the Internet --- p.165 / Chinese civil society and Chinese public sphere --- p.166 / Limitations of the study --- p.168 / Bibliography --- p.170 / Appendix: Survey Questionnaire --- p.178

Tang, Li. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-137). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1 --- Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Public Sphere: Liberal Model --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Criticism on Unitary Public Sphere --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Criteria for Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- External Parties --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.6 --- Public Sphere in the Cyberspace --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2 --- Public Sphere in Contemporary China --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Application of the Concept of Public Sphere in China --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Dominant Public Sphere in China --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Subaltern Groups in China --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Subaltern Public Spheres in Chinese Cyberspace --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- HBV Carriers Group and the Forum --- p.28 / Chapter 3 --- Research Design --- p.32 / Chapter 3.1 --- Overall Conceptual Framework --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2 --- Research Questions --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3 --- Research Methods --- p.36 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Textual Analysis --- p.36 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Interviews --- p.39 / Chapter 4 --- Brief Overview of the Forum --- p.43 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overall Development --- p.43 / Chapter 4.2 --- Structure --- p.46 / Chapter 4.3 --- Users --- p.50 / Chapter 5 --- Empowerment on the Discursive Level --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1 --- Characteristics of the Forum --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Alternative Topic --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Alternative Information of HBV --- p.54 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Discourse of Self-Narrative --- p.59 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Forum Accessibility --- p.61 / Chapter 5.1.5 --- Relative Equality --- p.62 / Chapter 5.2 --- Rhetoric of Innocence --- p.64 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Attribution of the Spread of HBV --- p.65 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Attribution of Discrimination --- p.68 / Chapter 5.3 --- Summary --- p.70 / Chapter 6 --- Empowerment and Collective Action --- p.73 / Chapter 6.1 --- The State --- p.73 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- State's Impact on HBV Carriers --- p.75 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Resistance Enabled by the Internet --- p.76 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- Challenges from the State --- p.84 / Chapter 6.1.4 --- Compromise with the State --- p.86 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Market --- p.88 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Market Domination --- p.89 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Resistance against the Market --- p.91 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Challenges from the market --- p.99 / Chapter 6.3 --- The Mass Media --- p.101 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Mass Media's Domination --- p.102 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Forum's Efforts to Get Favourably Represented --- p.106 / Chapter 6.3.3 --- Mass Media's Influence over the Forum --- p.111 / Chapter 6.4 --- Summary --- p.113 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusion and Discussion --- p.116 / Chapter 7.1 --- Assessing Empowerment Capacity --- p.116 / Chapter 7.1.1 --- Formation of a Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.116 / Chapter 7.1.2 --- Discursive Empowerment --- p.117 / Chapter 7.1.3 --- Transformed Relationships with External Parties --- p.118 / Chapter 7.2 --- Internet and Empowerment --- p.123 / Chapter 7.3 --- Limitations of the study --- p.127 / Bibliography --- p.130

Ma Lai Yee. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-109). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract (English version) --- p.ii / Abstract (Chinese version) --- p.iii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction / Political use of the Internet: Utopian or distopian? --- p.1 / Virtual communities and social movements --- p.4 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Political and Technological Landscape in Hong Kong / Chapter I) --- Political Background / The Handover of Hong Kong to China in1997 --- p.7 / The Tradition of Pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong --- p.8 / The 1 July Rally in2003 --- p.9 / Chapter II) --- Technological Background / Internet Penetration in Hong Kong --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Review of Literature / Chapter I) --- "Internet, Uses and Gratifications and political effects" / The Uses and Gratifications Approach: Theoretical assumptions --- p.14 / Uses and Gratifications and the Internet --- p.15 / Gratifications and Political media use --- p.17 / "Internet usage, Gratifications and Political effects" --- p.19 / Chapter II) --- "Social movement, collective identity and the Internet" / Social Movements in contemporary social context --- p.23 / Collective Identity in Social Movements --- p.26 / Identity Formation in Computer-mediated Communication --- p.28 / The Internet as a Social Movement Medium --- p.30 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Cyberactivism in Hong Kong / 1 July Protest and Cyber Activism in Hong Kong --- p.36 / The Case: Yumkung.com --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Methodology / Research Design and Sampling --- p.44 / Survey Sample Profile --- p.45 / Content Analysis --- p.46 / Textual Analysis --- p.47 / Measurements of variables --- p.48 / Analytical Procedures --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Results and Interpretations / Gratifications of Yumkung.com from Survey --- p.52 / Gratifications of Yumkung. com from Content Analysis --- p.54 / Collective Identity from textual Analysis --- p.60 / Correlational Analysis of Collective Identity --- p.71 / Predictors of Collective Identity --- p.74 / Correlational Analysis of past political participations --- p.77 / Predictors of past political participations --- p.80 / Correlational Analysis of intentions for future political participations --- p.82 / Predictors of intentions for political participations --- p.85 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Discussions and Conclusions / Uses and Gratifications and its Theoretical Contribution --- p.88 / Collective Identity Formation in Yumkung.com --- p.92 / Political Participations among Participants in Yumkung.com --- p.94 / Theoretical and Practical Implications --- p.99 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research --- p.102 / References --- p.105 / Appendix 1 Questionnaire --- p.110 / Appendix 2 Coding Guide of Content Analysis --- p.115 / "Appendix 3 Invitation letter to Mr. Paul Lin, Yumkung.com's Webmaster" --- p.117

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration