Indledning

Indlednin

Introduktion

Introduktio

Digital China: from cultural presence to innovative nation

The rapid development of digital technology infrastructure in the People’s Republic of China, together with the government’s recent support of grassroots innovation, has led to a growing mood of techno-nationalism as well as a feeling that digital technology can play an important role in renovating China’s international image. Powerful internet companies are challenging the dominance of traditional state-owned media. Cultural products are digitized, distributed, and consumed on online platforms. Such platforms offer consumers a choice of content through subscription, either free or paid. With China’s media and culture striving to ‘go out’ (zou chuqu 走出去), typified by CCTV and Confucius Institutes, we pose the question: Can China use the ‘digital power’ of the internet to achieve international recognition as an ‘innovative nation’ or will the internet perpetuate a stereotype of China as a copycat nation

An empirical study of the role of e-government benchmarking in China

The topic of this paper is the role of benchmarking in Chinese e-government. Through content analysis of documentary material, this paper addresses the following questions: Which benchmarking schemes have been applied to e-government in China? What are the intentions behind the different benchmarking schemes? and Whose interests are served? Whereas previous research finds that benchmarking addresses mainly the front office of e-government (websites), this paper finds that organizational indicators are also used. Benchmarking efforts now increasingly address the back office, and basic benchmarking schemes have become institutionalized into a census. Benchmarking reinforces the interests of the central government and communicates the values of the Communist Party to the fragmented bureaucracy. In this way, benchmarking is used as an integrative mechanism that centralizes governance while maintaining adaptive capacity at the local level