Mobile Communication and Greater China

Book excerpt: This edited volume examines mobile phone use in China. Unlike most studies on ICT development in China this book argues for the importance of the cultural realm as captured in mobile phone usage in reflecting the normative basis and struggle of the people. It stresses how the mobile phone is in fact an important means by which one can understand a rapidly changing China. A key concern of the book is to assert the uniqueness of China’s experience in mobile phone usage. This uniqueness is encapsulated by the phrase ‘riding the double juggernaut’, in that Chinese society is exposed to a rapid process of industrialization and cyberization in a short period of time. The contributors maintain that such density of experience under a compressed period when the society has a thick cultural heritage of its own and yet is still under a dictating rule all come together to provide a unique situation in China. .