Networking China : the digital transformation of the Chinese economy

"China has long relied on its export manufacturing for economic growth, yet, because of the serious problems generated by this economic model, the Chinese state has tried to rebalance its economy. With the global economic crisis of 2008 and the related downfall of the global export market, the Chinese state took decisive and systematic actions to diversify their economy and declared information, communication, and culture as its next "pillar" industry. In this study, Yu Hong examines the political economy of this industry, focusing on how the state, in conjunction with market forces and class interests, constructs and realigns this designated pillar industry as well as the accompanying power dynamics. She points to the broad patterns of what has changed, and what hasn't changed, in the policy arenas as well as in Chinese business, given the national goal of fostering a new, strategically important digitalized sector. Hong investigates how state planners intend to build more competitive ICT manufacturing industries by modernizing the network infrastructure, ending China's industrial and technological dependence upon foreign corporations and possibly becoming a global ICT leader. Hong argues that instead of challenging head-on dominant interests and facilitating the redistribution of power and resources, the state and Chinese ruling elites have prioritized information, communication, and culture as technological fixes to make pragmatic tradeoffs between economic growth and social justice."