Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Beijing Calling... Mobile Communication in Contemporary China

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Knowledge, Technology & Policy

Abstract

Subsequently, with the recent wave of industrialization, China has become the “factory” of the globalized world. The modernization of this country, however, is not confined to the provision of production at a low added value: It also entails technological appropriation and innovation. In particular, China represents the biggest world market for mobile phones and will soon dominate the Internet market. In this country, the total number of mobile and fixed-line subscribers exceeds 750 million, and the total number of Internet users is more than 162 million. The present study focuses on how, after a decade of mobile phone use, the inhabitants of Beijing evaluate the changes in the social and communicative sphere as a result of the introduction of the mobile phone. In this paper, we present some results of a quantitative research, specifically focused on mobile communication. Based on face-to-face questionnaires administered to a convenient sample of 487 respondents, this study addresses the following research questions: After a decade of mobile phone use, how do Chinese people perceive the importance of this device? To what extent do the adoption and use of mobile phones increase or decrease social connectivity in contemporary China? To what extent does the use of mobile phones in everyday life enhance or reduce the communications – do they make you feel closer to or more distant from other people? What are the variables that predict users’ attitudes toward mobile phones in China?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For spatial reasons, it was not possible to present in this paper also the results related to behavior and practices of use of the mobile phone. This data have been illustrated and discussed in the following papers: Fortunati et al. (2007, 2008, unpublished manuscript).

  2. One euro is about 10 yuan.

  3. \(\chi _{\left( 1 \right)}^2 = 19.33\), p < 0.0001; \(\chi _{\left( 3 \right)}^2 = 27.44\), p < 0.0001.

  4. \(\chi _{\left( 2 \right)}^2 = 27.23\), p < 0.0001.

  5. \(\chi _{\left( 1 \right)}^2 = 7.59\), p < 0.01 and \(\chi _{\left( 3 \right)}^2 = 27.44\), p < 0.0001.

  6. \(\chi _{\left( 3 \right)}^2 = 12.88\), p < 0.01.

  7. \(\chi _{\left( 1 \right)}^2 = 12.42\), p < 0.0001.

  8. \(\chi _{\left( 3 \right)}^2 = 15.35\), p < 0.01.

  9. \(\chi _{\left( 1 \right)}^2 = 23.10\), p < 0.0001.

  10. \(\chi _{\left( 2 \right)}^2 = 60.35\), p < 0.0001.

  11. \(\chi _{\left( 3 \right)}^2 = 26.93\), p < 0.0001.

  12. \(\chi _{\left( 1 \right)}^2 = 5.10\), p < 0.05 and \(\chi _{\left( 3 \right)}^2 = 10.46\), p < 0.05.

  13. \(\chi _{\left( 2 \right)}^2 = 8.66\), p < 0.05.

  14. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) with factor between income: F (3, 453) = 3.19, p < 0.05.

  15. For television: t (485) = −2.15, p < 0.05; for the radio: t (482) = −2.70, p < 0.01; for the computer: t (481) = −4.75, p < 0.0001; for the Internet: t (480) = −2.46, p < 0.05; for the newspaper: t (484) = −2.23, p < 0.05.

  16. Univariate ANOVA with factor between age: for the computer (F (3, 478) = 4.43, p < 0.01); for the Internet (F (3, 477) = 7.99, p < 0.0001).

  17. Univariate ANOVA with factor between education: for the computer (F (2, 479) = 94.55, p < 0.0001), for the Internet (F (2, 478) = 71.49, p < 0.0001), for the newspaper (F (2, 482) = 4.68, p < 0.01), and for the mobile phone (F (2, 481) = 3.70, p < 0.05).

  18. Univariate ANOVA with factor between income: for the computer (F (3, 477) = 21.93, p < 0.0001), for the Internet (F (3, 476) = 16.51, p < 0.0001),and for the mobile phone (F (3, 479) = 2.63, p < 0.05).

  19. For the computer: t (478) = 7.93, p < 0.0001 and for the Internet: t (477) = 7.81, p < 0.0001.

  20. For amusement (t (473) = −2.36, p < 0.05) and social communication (t (473) = 4.15, p < 0.0001).

  21. Univariate ANOVA with factor between age: F (3, 473) = 3.67, p < 0.05.

  22. Univariate ANOVA with factor between education: for amusement (F (2, 474) = 15.30, p < 0.0001), for social communication (F (2, 474) = 12.98, p < 0.0001), and for study/work (F (2, 474) = 4.59, p < 0.05).

  23. Univariate ANOVA with factor between income: for amusement (F (3, 472) = 3.41, p < 0.05), for social communication (F (3, 472) = 7.77, p < 0.0001), and for study/work (F (3, 472) = 5.78, p < 0.01).

References

  • Chu, W.-C. & Yang, S. (2006). Mobile phones and new migrant workers in a south China village: An initial analysis of the interplay between the “social” and the “technological”. In P. Law, L. Fortunati, & S. Yang (Eds.). New technologies in global societies. Singapore: World Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Sola Pool, I. (1988). Technologies of freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrarotti, F. (1970). Macchina e uomo nella società industriale. Roma: ERI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortunati, L. (2007). Immaterial labor and its machinization. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, 7(1), 139–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortunati, L. & Manganelli, A. (1998). La comunicazione tecnologica: Comportamenti, opinioni ed emozioni degli Europei. In L. Fortunati (Ed.). Telecomunicando in Europa. Milano: Angeli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortunati, L. & Yang, S. (2008). The identity and sociability of the mobile phone in China. In Juan M. Aguado & Inmaculada J. Martinez, (Eds.). The second digital revolution: mobile telephony and cultural consumption/La segunda revolucion digital: telefonia movil y consumo cultural (in press).

  • Fortunati, L., Manganelli, A., Law, P., Yang, S. (2007). Practices of mobile phone use in Beijing. Paper presented at the International Conference of Community Informatics – Prospects for Communities and Action, Prato (November).

  • Fortunati, L., Manganelli, A., Law, P., Yang, S. (2008) The Mobile face of contemporary China. Telektronikk (in press).

  • He, Z. (2005). SMS in China: A major carrier for the private discourse universe. Paper presented at the International Conference on Mobile Communication and Asian Modernities I, Hong Kong (June).

  • Law, P. & Peng, Y. (2004a). Cellphone, internet and the SARS epidemic. Paper presented at the International Conference on Mobile Technologies and Health: Positive and Negative Aspects, Udine (June).

  • Law, P. & Peng, Y. (2004b). The use of cellphones among immigrant workers in Southern China. Paper presented at the International Conference on Communication and Social Change, Seoul, Korea (October).

  • Law, P. & Peng, Y. (2005). Cellphones and the social lives of migrant workers in southern China. Paper presented at the International Conference on Mobile Communication and Asian Modernities II: Information, Communications Tools & Social Changes in Asia, Beijing, People’s Republic of China (October).

  • Law, P. & Peng, Y. (2006). The use of mobile phones among migrant workers in southern China. In P. Law, L. Fortunati, & S. Yang (Eds.). New technologies in global societies. Singapore: World Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ling, R., Yittri, B., Anderson, B., DiDuca, D. (2003). Mobile communication and social capital in Europe. In K. Nyíri (Ed.). Mobile democracy. Essays on society, self and politics. Wien: Passagen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miyata, K., Wellman, B., Boase, J. (2005). The wired – and wireless – Japanese: webphones, PCs and social networks. In R. Ling & Per E. Pedersen (Eds.). Mobile communications. Re-negotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer. Pp 427–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomba, L. (2003). L’ascesa della classe media, Aspenia, 23, 95–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (2003). Alla ricerca di alta tecnologia, Aspenia, 23, 101–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, R., Stewart, J., Slack, R. (2005). Social learning in technological innovation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, B. (2005). Social networks and individualism: The role of the mobile phone in China’s social transformation. Paper presented at the International Conference on Mobile Communication and Asian Modernities II: Information, Communications Tools & Social Changes in Asia, Beijing, People’s Republic of China (October).

  • Yuen, S.P., Law, P., and Ho, Y. (2004). Marriage, gender, and sex in a contemporary Chinese society. New York: M.E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Udine, Via Savona 21, 35142, Padova, Italy

    Leopoldina Fortunati

  2. Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 3513, Padova, Italy

    Anna Maria Manganelli

  3. Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Pui-lam Law

  4. Department of Sociology, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Shanhua Yang

Authors
  1. Leopoldina Fortunati
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anna Maria Manganelli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pui-lam Law
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shanhua Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leopoldina Fortunati.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fortunati, L., Manganelli, A.M., Law, Pl. et al. Beijing Calling... Mobile Communication in Contemporary China. Know Techn Pol 21, 19–27 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-008-9040-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-008-9040-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation