Exploring Chinese cyber discourse: integrating political and legal perspectives

Abstract Cyberspace, with the rapidly growing network of users and communication technologies, provides venues for myriad social and political interactions. The very technology that enables the development of cyberspace itself also makes detailed and cumulative observation possible. This study aims to investigate cyber discourse in the context of China from the perspective of political and legal integration. Theoretical insight is transformed from viewing cyberspace as a research object to regarding it as a research ontology. To fill in this uncharted domain, this study aims to examine (a) the hidden connotations of the political discourse in cyberspace, (b) the new features of legal regulation in cyberspace, and (c) the relation between political discourse and legal practice. Centering on both political and legal discourse on cyberspace, the findings of this study indicate that there is a dialectical relationship between political discourse and legal practice in cyberspace. With the findings, this study contributes to the discursive construction by extending the discourse studies into cyberspace and integrating the discourse studies with politics and law.