By Violet Nguyen, Class of 2028
On November 17, 2025, the CSCC Digital Technology and Society hosted Professor Daniela Stockmann from the Hertie School and Professor Ting Luo from the University of Birmingham for an illuminating book talk on their new work, Governing Digital China. Their presentation offered a fresh perspective on China’s digital governance by examining the interactions among the state, major tech firms, and citizens, moving beyond the familiar “Big Brother” narrative that often dominates discussions of China’s digital sphere.
The talk opened with Dr. Stockmann situating China’s digital governance within broader international debates. As the United States and Europe struggle with questions of regulation, innovation, and digital sovereignty, China has long pursued its own approach to balancing economic growth and political stability. She noted that common explanations, such as the narrative of increasing political control under Xi Jinping or the story of China’s technological rise from copycat platforms to innovators, capture only part of the picture. To fully understand China’s model, she argued, one must consider how the digital landscape is shaped through ongoing negotiations.
To better understand this system, Dr. Stockmann introduced the book’s concept of popular corporatism. This framework integrates the roles of three key actors: the state, platform companies, and users. Rather than portraying tech firms as passive instruments of the state, the framework shows how companies like Tencent, Sina, Baidu, and Alibaba act as consultants and insiders, providing expertise and data that the government depends on. At the same time, citizens influence the system from below through their online behaviors and preferences, especially regarding privacy, content diversity, and perceived openness.
Subsequently, Dr. Luo illustrated how popular corporatism operates in practice. She discussed how meetings between political leaders and tech executives sometimes function as genuine consultative exchanges rather than mere symbolic gestures. Data further show that platforms such as Sina and Tencent play crucial roles in monitoring online content for local governments. This infrastructural importance gives these firms a degree of leverage: platforms with more insider access tend to experience lower levels of censorship, thereby allowing their users relatively more space for discussion.
Turning to the citizens’ role, Dr. Luo highlighted survey evidence showing that most Chinese users value privacy and respond to heightened controls, such as when real-name registration is required, by reducing engagement or switching platforms. These behavioral reactions constrain both the state and corporations, influencing how platforms design their systems.
The talk concluded with reflections on the political implications of this framework. Instead of seeing China’s digital governance as entirely top-down, the speakers showed that it is shaped by ongoing negotiation among the state, companies, and citizens.
This event was part of the Book Talk Series of the Digital Technology and Society Cluster under the Center for the Study of Contemporary China.
