Automation, Autonomy, and Alternatives: Popular Voices from Digital China

This Special Issue (SI) aims to advance the discussion by specifically accounting for popular voices in digital China. By “popular voices,” we refer to the diverse and often unofficial (though not necessarily anti-official) discourses and perspectives expressed by ordinary citizens, activists, bloggers, and other non-governmental entities. These voices often serve as undercurrents to the official or mainstream discourses promoted by the state, big tech companies, and institutionalized academics. Such undercurrents cannot be easily categorized as “pro” or “con” in relation to the mainstream narratives; many exist in a vast grey zone between the official and unofficial. They create a dynamic and contested digital sphere in China, where alternative narratives and competing discourses circulate and influence public opinion, despite the challenges posed by technology-enhanced content censorship, control, and manipulation.