A Feminist Reading of China’s Digital Public Sphere

“Chinese society is often held to be patriarchal and misogynistic. The introduction of digital communications and particularly social media in their various forms might well have been expected to lead to change. Altman Yuzhu Peng not only challenges this assumption but demonstrates how in several ways the use and development of social media in China have if anything strengthened the degrees of patriarchy and misogyny that characterise public life.”
- David S. G. Goodman, Professor of China Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China P.R.

 “Altman Yuzhu Peng’s timely and important feminist study examines the gendered politics of China’s digital public sphere. Through case studies of contemporary “pseudo-feminist digital influencers” and critical discourse analyses of social media postings on WeChat and Zhihu, Peng documents how longstanding patriarchal and misogynist discourses shaping Chinese culture are also a central feature of its online spaces. His research thus demonstrates not only the persistence of unequal gender relations in spaces of seemingly open and progressive dialogue but also, crucially, ways in which they might be challenged and transformed.”

- Cynthia Carter, Reader in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University, UK

This book makes an original contribution to the field of feminist cultural studies through an analysis of the gender-politics axis established in China’s digital public sphere. While a growing body of literature in contemporary feminist cultural studies has turned attention to the Chinese environment, scholarship remains limited in exploring the intersection of gender and politics in the context of Chinese digital cultures. This book addresses this timely topic. It will appeal to both scholars and students interested in exploring the complex, dynamic interplay between digital cultures, public expressions, as well as representations and perceptions of gender reflected in Chinese Internet users’ everyday communicative practice from a feminist media studies perspective.

Altman Yuzhu Peng (PhD, Newcastle University, UK) is a Lecturer in PR & Global Communications at Newcastle University (UK).