The Development Of The Internet Forum At The Present Time In China And Restructuring To "Life" Of The Public Sphere

The internet forums for discussing politics in China are slowing down while the size and popularity have gotten behind comparing to the status of several years ago. Qiang Guo forum ( the online forum of people.com.cn) which was founded in 1999 has formed the powerful force of public opinion with some other similar forums during the 5 or 6 years. But in the past 2 or 3 years, their status has been challenged by the commercial forums such as Tian Ya, Xi Ci and Mao Pu. These commercial ones with the tendency of entertainment have developed rapidly in these years. Then, the restructuring to"Life", to"Culture", to"Entertainment"is become the new direction of internet forums.Why do the topics about politics become unpopular and the ones about lfie become popular? This research will try to analyse the phenomena with the theory of public sphere which was founded by Juergen Habermas. Using this theory, this research will analyse the conformation of internet-mediated politics. On the other hand, Anthony Giddens'theory of life-politics is the illumination to solve the confusing puzzle which is caused by the restructuring of public sphere.This research is divided into the following four parts:(1) This part will introduce the background of research, the known research results and the research method, especially the Habermas'theory of public sphere and the research in internet with this theory.(2) This part will describe the actuality of internet public sphere in China and especially analyse its subject and form. And the subjectivity of communication which is related tightly to the public sphere is the important part, too.(3) This part will analyse the ups and downs of the internet forums which are the most important parts of the internet public sphere in China. And I will bring forth the Restructuring to"life"of this sphere using the qualitative and quantitative methods(4) This part will expound the influence of internet forums on the restructuring of public sphere, linking to Anthony Giddens'theory of life-politics.