Who, What, How and Why: Decoding the Use of Regulations to Control the Internet in China Since 1987

University of San Francisco's Center for Asia Pacific Studies hosts a talk on the proliferation of regulations surrounding internet use in China.

With the world’s largest online population, China has introduced many regulations to control every aspect of the Internet and online media. When an email was sent from Beijing in October 1987, China entered the Internet age. Between 1991 and 2018, a total of 171 regulations were promulgated to control the internet from these aspects:

1. Who uses the Internet?
2. What messages and content are sent and received via the Internet and social media?
3. How can China control the channels used to disseminate the messages?
4. Why is it necessary to implement these regulations to control the Internet?  

When, for example, in one month in August 2017, about 56.1 billion text messages were sent via social media and mobile phones in China, how can China exercise an effective control of the Internet, social media, and mobile devices?

The Speaker

Dr. Tuen-yu Lau is the Kiriyama Professor of Asia Pacific Studies in the Center for Asia Pacific Studies at the University of San Francisco. He was founding director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media Program at the University of Washington. He has previously taught at Purdue University, UCLA, University of Hong Kong, Fudan University and Beijing Central University of Finance and Economic. He was a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution and the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford as well as at the University of Southern California's U.S.-China Institute.

Professor Lau served as a principal advisor for then brand-new TV network Indosiar Visual Mandiri in Indonesia. He worked with 50 foreign advisors to train 1,000 factory workers to become TV professionals. He also functioned as an advisor to an Internet radio company in Silicon Valley to help turn it from a revenue-loss to cash flow positive. 

Professor Lau holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, a master's in communication from Stanford University, and a PhD in mass media (integrating the study of journalism, telecommunication, and advertising) from Michigan State University.

Photo from the University of San Francisco's Center for Asia Pacific Studies