The Impact of Internet Censorship on National Identity in China

This paper looks at the effect of internet censorship on Chinese people’s sense of national identity by exploring the links between citizens’ level of awareness of censorship, their experience of it and their level of support for it and their sense of national identity. Drawing on social identity theory, the paper tests five hypotheses using an online questionnaire of 199 respondents. All five hypotheses are supported: greater awareness of and greater exposure to censorship are both associated with lower levels of support for censorship and lower levels of national identity, whereas support for censorship is positively related to national identity. The results demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between the stated aims of internet censorship and the way it is actually perceived by citizens. From a bottom-up perspective, the paper goes beyond existing research on the regulatory effects of censorship to look at its potential impact on national identity. Finally, this paper suggests that policy makers should take into account the actual experiences and attitudes of citizens when designing and implementing internet censorship policies.