This paper was presented at the 10th Chinese Internet Research Conference held May 21-22, 2012 at the Annenberg School of Communication @ USC. It discusses the functions and implications of China's national search engine Jike from multiple theoretical perspectives.

1. China’s National Search Engine
Jike
Min Jiang (Ph.D.)
Assistant Professor of Communication, UNC Charlotte
Affiliate Researcher @ CGCS, University of Pennsylvania
Kristen Okamoto
M.A. Student, Dept. of Communication, UNC Charlotte
1 0 th C h i n e s e I n t e r n e t R e s e a r c h C o n f e r e n c e ( # C I R C 1 0 )
USC Annenberg School of Communication

2. The Party & The Vatican

4. Jike
 Background
 Branding: National identity
 Funding: Political economy of propaganda
 Surveilling: Panopticon

5. Jike ranks 643rd in China
7,412th globally (Alexa, 2012)
Total # of Chinese websites: 2.3 million (CNNIC, 2012)

7. 80% of 513 million Chinese Internet users use search engine

8. A More Politicized, Nationalized Web
 Jan 12, 2010: Google-China conflict
 Jan-21, 2010: Clinton “Internet freedom”
 June 8, 2010: “Internet in China” white paper
 Internet sovereignty
 June 20, 2010: Goso  June 20, 2011: Jike
 Dec 16, 2011: Real name registration on Weibo
 April 20, 2012: People’s Daily Online IPO

9. National Identity

10. (Semioticized) National Identity

11. Design
60% of Chinese Internet users under age 30

12. Deng Yaping: Jike CEO

13. “National Team”
Not to make money but
to fulfill our national
duty

14. The Political Economy of Jike
 Ownership & control
 Market regulation
 Power relations

15. Jike: State-Owned Enterprise (SOE)
 Funding Jike
 50 million yuan ($7.92 milion)
 81% - People’s Daily (newspaper)
 19% - People’s Daily Online (online arm of PD)
 People’s Daily Online IPO in 2012
 Raised 1.4 billion yuan ($222 million) > NYT
 Who owns People’s Daily Online?
 66% - People’s Daily
 12% - Global Times
 4% - Bank of China
 3% - China Mobile

16. Party Publicity Inc.

17. Propaganda for Sale

18. Panopticon
 Theoretical Underpinnings
 Foucault and the panopticon
 Panopticon and Cyberspace
 “Surveillance society”
 The Internet and
authoritarianism
 China’s existing forms of
panoptic control

19. Log Record

21. Jike and Panoptic Control
 Corporate Self-
censorship
 Centralization of data
surveillance
 Limitations of the
panopticon

22. Summary
Perspective Key Concepts Application in Jike
Party Image:
National Sign, Symbol,
Semiotics Friendly, High-tech,
Identity Design, Meaning
and Nationalistic
State Ownership, Capitalistic
Political
Ideological Control, Production of Party
Economy
Apparatus Commodification Ideology
State Surveillance of
Panopticon Postmodern Surveillance Netizen Data &
Desires

23. Limitations and Future Research
 Users
 Perception
 Knowledge
 Efficacy
 Search engine performance
 Search
query data
 Comparative data (Baidu, Google)

24. Implications of Jike
 From filtering, blocking, regulating to manufacturing
 Propaganda: high-tech, scientific, user-friendly
 From coercion to attraction
 Let the market subsidize propaganda work
 Search market: regulator and player
 Commodification of surveillance
 The degenerative Web