One city, two systems : democracy in an electronic chat room in Hong Kong

Fung, Anthony (author)

China resumed the sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997. To preserve this former colony as an international finance centre, China is abided to rule Hong Kong under the philosophy of "One Country Two Systems" principle, which guarantees that the capitalism of Hong Kong remains intact within its territorial boundary, across which China's communism is the dominant ideology. However, local citizens started to question the authorities' determination to preserve the principle soon after 1997, when self-censorship in traditional media was notorious and they conceived that the continuity of press freedom and other democratic practice were being eroded. Under this critical period of public anxiety, the proliferation of online media gives theresidents a ray of hope. The public seems to believe that these new communication media create a free and autonomous space and an emerging online community relatively immune to official controls. Such protection comes from the public's unconscious construction of a "one city, two systems" ideal - an analogy of the "One Country Two systems." This paper aims, through a case study of an electronic chat room of an online newspaper, to examine whether it is possible for local citizens to engage in a democratic form of online communication. In the wake of a closed political environment, the search for minimally free political practices in these spaces has serious implications for the dominated public to engage in democratic struggle. The significance of this study lies in theorising about such a form of democracy and, practically, it sheds light on the potentiality and possibility of political struggle in a region under political domination by an authoritarian state. The paper concludes that forms of organised domination exist in the chat room. The chat room becomes a polarised site of struggle where authorities and citizens engage, disparage and overwhelm each other.

• Language: English
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Year: 2002
• Number of pages: Str. 77-94
• Numbering: Let. 9, št. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-74776
• UDC: 004.738.5
• ISSN on article: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 21246045
• Publication date in RUL: 21.12.2015

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Javnost = The public
• Shortened title: Javnost
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis, European Institute for Communication and Culture
• ISSN: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 40119808

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Eno mesto, dva sistema: demokracija v elelktronski klepetalnici v Hong Kongu

Abstract

Po prevzemu Hong Konga od Velike Britanije leta 1997 se je Kitajska obvezala vladati v Hong Kongu po načelu "ena dežela, dva sistema", ki zagotavlja ohranitev kapitalističnega sistema. Vendar so državljani v Hong Kongu kmalu začeli dvomiti v odločenost oblasti, da uveljavi to načelo, ko je postala očitna samocenzura tradicionalnih medijev. V tem kritičnem obdobju zaskrbljenosti je razvoj online medijev predstavljal žarek upanja. Javnost je videti prepričana, da novi mediji ustvarjajo svoboden in avtonomen prostor, kije relativno varen pred uradnim nadzorom. Tako prepričanje izvira iz nezavedne konstrukcije ideala "enega mesta, dveh sistemov" v javnosti v analogiji z načelom "ena dežela, dva sistema". Na primeru elektronske klepetalnice internetnega časopisa članek raziskuje, ali se državljani lahko vključujejo v demokratične oblike računalniško posredovanega komuniciranja. V zaprtem političnem okolju ima iskanje minimalno svobodnih političnih praks pomembne posledice za vključevanje podrejene javnosti v demokratični boj. Članek obravnava táko obliko demokracije s teoretskega stališča in hkrati osvetljuje praktične možnosti za politični boj pod politično dominacijo avtoritarne države. Razkriva, da tudi v klepetalnici obstajajo oblike organizirane dominacije; klepetalnica postaja polariziran prostor boja, v katerem sodelujejo, se med seboj spopadajo in premagujejo oblast in državljani

• Keywords: Hongkong, demokracija, cenzura, Internet