Limited Agency

The past decade has seen a rapid expansion of the Internet in China. Internet expansionwas not only witnessed in big cities, but also in remote rural areas. Previous research eitherregards the emancipatory impact of the Internet in China in such a utopian way that theyignore the differences among individuals, and the specific social context of and its restrictionto each individual; or they simply construe rural young as passive objects who can only beshaped by political, economic and cultural factors, thus depriving each individual of his/heragency.Basing itself on social constructionist approach, this article investigates rural youngpeople’s usage of the Internet. In particular, the context in which young people’s Internetusages take place, and the complex relations between their online activities and everydayoffline lives have been paid close attention to.This article not only probes into what being arural resident means in China and how being a rural resident restricts the possibilities ofbenefiting from the Internet, but also how each rural young resident re-interprets theirrural/urban resident identity by using the Internet creatively.Inspired by the Miller and Slater (2000)’s assertion that the Internet as a meaningfulphenomenon only exists in particular places, an ethnographic approach will be adopted. Onemonth of field research in Longli County, Guizhou Province (2012.7-2012.8) and anothermonth of field research in several villages of Jianshui County, Yunnan Province, such asBaijiaying Village, Baishuihe Village, Xitu Village and Tuanshan Village(2013.7-2013.8)have been carried out. The field work involved participant observation inseveral rural Internet cafes, informal and selective in-depth interviews with young adults andteenagers, and their parents or family members.It is concluded that in spite of the real shortages of social, economic and educationalresources, young people in rural areas can make good use of the Internet and avoid thedrawbacks brought about by Internet addiction through self-conscious arrangements, thusshowing their productive agency. This can be reflected from the fact that new migrant fromrural areas to urban areas can better adjust to their rural-urban identity transition process through the adoption of this new media usage, and teenagers and their families do have thecapacity to make a choice to avoid the pathological drawbacks of Internet addiction. What’smore, young adults and teenagers who have difficulty in fitting in the macro urban-rural dualstructure, can benefit from the Internet, too, for Internet use can create a space for them wherethey can actively adopt a new modern lifestyle, make use of their limited life options andre-interpret their rural resident identities.However, Internet does not erase pre-existing social political systems, most apparently,the effect of a secondary rural identity and a sexual double standard still prevail. Thus, theautonomy that young people can gain from Internet usage is tempered.