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Article

Open Access

Political Satire in the Chinese Blogosphere: The Case of Wang Xiaofeng

Author(s)

Hai Tang

Full-Text PDF Download XML 3188 Views

DOI:10.17265/2159-5526/2014.12.004

Affiliation(s)

University of Sussex, UK

ABSTRACT

This paper is built on the study of one key blog—Wang Xiaofeng’s No Guess (2006-2011) to explore how a Chinese intellectual uses his satirical skills in the blogosphere, how his blog reshapes the form of political culture, and how the blogosphere through such interventions proceeds in the development of political communications in China. Two key issues are addressed in the paper. Firstly, drawing on the concept of “blogging culture”, the author argues that blogging has potentially reconfigured political information around people’s everyday lives, offering alternative modes of “public talk”. The case of Wang Xiaofeng shows that satire can be used to make fun of the state, policies, and established ideologies, improving a previously restricted communicative environment toward more open. Secondly, the rise in the value placed on individualism in China, and the rise of peer-to-peer media mean that bloggers who pursue self-expression simultaneously through such self-expression. In other words, Wang Xiaofeng’s No Guess blog demonstrates that individual opinions across the blogosphere have implicitly challenged political discourse; however, they always have to struggle with an ongoing censorship, negotiate an unstable discursive space and thus, can only enjoy a limited success.

KEYWORDS

Blogging, China, satirical blog, political expression, established ideologies

Cite this paper

Sociology Study, December 2014, Vol. 4, No. 12, 1016-1041

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