Digital Intimacy in China

A myriad of online spaces in China have given rise to increased information flows, while generating new cultural discourses, mobilising collective action and promoting online citizenship. Yet, at the same time the Great Firewall has also become more sophisticated, strategic and systematic, including but not limited to censorship, propaganda and accommodation to save or to eliminate certain contents and construct acceptable public discourse. In this chapter, we explore three major areas where feminist activism, subversive boys’ love culture, and digital intimacies converge to illustrate how state censorship and surveillance cannot be taken simply as an exercise to removing data deemed sensitive, immoral and critical of the government. A closer look at how censorship and surveillance is carried out in silencing the voices of women’s rights, LGBT issues and boys’ love culture, amidst a tolerant and, some would argue, flourishing consumer online dating landscape, shows the ambiguous, slippery and unstable practices that ebb and flow with centralised government policies.