Analysis Of Public Sphere In China’s Cyberspace

Citizens’participation in the discussion of social events is one of the characteristics of civil society, and civil society is often linked with the public sphere. However, as a social force, which is situated between the citizens and government, public sphere often rely on the strength of public opinions to maintain principles of fairness, reasonability and justice, and to fight against the political power and the dominant hegemony of business logic. Habermas suggested that public suggestions or public opinions which are made through rational debate in the public domain ensured that the general population of a country could have access to participate in the debate on the issues of society and country and could also well understand the state or situation of the country.Benefiting from the development of Internet and technologies of new media, the phenomenon of ordinary "social man" issuing his own public opinion in the network is showing a piece of prosperous scene. Two-way communication model provided by Information network contributes to the practice of civil society. Although the two-way communication model provided by Information network is not equivalent to Habermas’s "ideal communication situation", the information network can indeed reach a "distortion-free expression of public opinions" and can also provide better information and platform comparing with the traditional media. Expression of public opinions in the network reflected that in a certain period, social psychology of the public’s attitudes, requirements and emotions relating to social events and problems which mattered a lot for the public’s vital interests,is an essential part in public opinions with great democratic values and reference values in public decision-making. Therefore, based both on the information network and on the rational debate of citizen’s participation in public sphere, the resultant formation of public opinion would contribute to the rational and good operation of state power.All kinds of values and beliefs meet in the cyberspace, and the justice, courage and vitality of spiritual depth have been fully demonstrated. The character of interaction of the network provided a platform which could present the sense of identification of community members, and could let a piece of idea sparks grow into an influential opinion or thought. Solve problems and eliminate differences through discussion and contention. Network society gives everyone the full right to speak, and in the information era, the right of speaking is a real power. The expression of public opinion in the cyberspace becomes an important channel for the public to play their democratic rights. Therefore, the cyberspace had a profound impact on politics.In this study, by researching on how to make the expression of public opinion in the network go toward rationalization, how to achieve the public’s right of speaking, how to check and administrate public opinions or "keep gate" in the area of cyberspace, and how should individuals or groups interact with the network society,the paper attempts to explore how to build up a open and civilized public sphere in the cyberspace, and thus to make use of democratic advantages of network to the maximize extent, and to promote and accelerate the development of democratic social system.