The dramatic growth in China's internet population – now the largest in the world – has been widely publicized. Equally, most people are aware of the Great Firewall and other attempts to regulate cyberspace in China. Far less is known about the sites and modes of online citizen activism and the contours of contentious politics in cyberspace. This illuminating study sets out to chronicle and explain the emergence of these features of China's internet culture. It is, Yang writes, “a story of social change told through the lens of online activism” (p. 3).

Yang's starting point is the notion that “online activism derives its forms and dynamics from a broad spectrum of converging and contending forces” (p. 1). Put another way, “contestation about all the other dynamics of Chinese life fuels the Chinese cyberspace and surges out of it” (p. 1). Five major “dynamics” are conceptualized in a “multi-interactionism model.” Simply put, the state, cultures of contention, the market, civil society (narrowly defined as civic organizations) and trans-nationalism all feed into online activism (p. 8). Five substantive chapters show how each of the five factors affect, and are affected by, online activism – drawing on a broad theoretical literature and an impressive array of empirical data. Conceiving online activism as both a reflection and reflector of the complexity and multidimensionality of contemporary Chinese society is an important advance.

Yang shows Chinese cyberspace to be full of “carnival, community and contention” (p. 1), a place where activists use clever methods to elude the suppression of their more or less subversive messages. Here there are struggles for recognition and belonging, and against oppression and exploitation. Protagonists are drawn from every sector of Chinese society. The full range of actors – the good, the bad and the ugly – who are active on the ground are represented here, in a space that, in spite of restrictions, is freer than the physical world. Chinese cyberspace, with its myriad contending voices, is perhaps moving toward an “unofficial democracy” (p. 220). This is exciting stuff – yet, grounded in sensible theorizing and abundant case studies.

The arguments about the separate effects of the five conceptual components on online activism are generally convincing. However, the least thoroughly explored element of the model is “the market.” Yang's modest claim about the relationship between business and online activism is that commercial actors have an interest in promoting online contention. Contention sells and within certain parameters: commercial portals, websites etc. encourage discussion of contentious events and issues – although they assiduously avoid the hyper-sensitive subjects we can all guess. However, the broad effects of the marketization of the Chinese economy – and the narrower effects of commercial internet actors – on the stimuli and nature of online activism inevitably run much deeper than this and are worth exploring further. Another concern is that the conceptual model is underspecified; it is missing a number of key interactive terms. By this I mean the interactive relationships between the five components in the model (state/market, state/civil society, market/transnationalism, etc.). Conceptually, these interactions are not accounted for, although we can imagine that they must also have a measurable effect on online activism.

Nonetheless, this work represents a major advancement in scholarly research on the social and political effects of a 300 million-strong army of Chinese netizens. Like all good books, this one prompts many further research questions – the margins of my copy are teeming with them. In particular, the links between online and offline contention – when does online activism spill into the streets? – remain to be more fully explored. The plurality of data collection methods and the sheer volume of empirical data set a high standard for future efforts. Unquestionably, it should be on reading lists for courses related to social and political development in China. The substantive chapters are highly engaging and students will find interest, even inspiration, in Yang's case studies, the protagonists of which – Zhang Xianzhu, Hu Jia, Liu Di, Muzimei – are the real stars of the book. It is highly recommended to all.