An agent for change: The internet is setting new agendas in China

China became the largest Internet user in the world with 420 million of its citizens connected to the new media by June 2010. This chapter investigates the social conditions and ways in which new communication technologies are transforming the politics, culture, and the society in China through analyses of uses of the Internet, differing roles played by the traditional and the new media, Internet regulations in the country, and cases catapulted to the national media spotlight by the online community, and through contrasts with the roles new communication technologies play in Western and African societies. The chapter also attempts to explore the implications of these transformations.