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102 Jack Linchuan Qiueconomic instrument, however, is an incomplete characterization. Three issuesadd to the complexity of Chinese informationalism. First, it is difficult to estimatethe extent to which the economic benefits of the Internet can be utilizedto stabilize the current social structure. This is problematic because of theuneven pattern of Internet diffusion in China and the lack of attention to issuesof information inequality until recently (Qiu, 2002a; Harwit, 2003; Giese,2003). Second, despite its apparent unity, the Chinese state harbors multipleinterest groups with competing and conflicting goals and rationales. They viefor dominance in China’s cyberspace. Officials, especially at the level of localstate, often form networks of “bureaucratic entrepreneurs” (Hsing, 1998) withmembers of the business community, including IT industry leaders, 13 fromwithin and outside Mainland China. This makes it difficult to operationallydefine the boundary between politics and economy in the many localities,particularly in the coastal regions of Guangdong, Fujian, and Shanghai wheretrans-border commercial activities have been concentrated.Finally, and most importantly, the role of grassroots user networks shouldbe emphasized because their everyday activities not only ensure the continuationof China’s Internet but also embody personal experiences that transformthe new technology from an abstract cyberspace to meaningful places of socialsignificance. User networks at the grassroots level constitute the most innovativesource of change in China’s virtual landscape, forming an unpredictabledimension imbued with tremendous potential for liberalization which is justbeginning to be understood. The multitude of grassroots formations such asweb-based nationalist movements, hacker alliances, youth culture, gay andlesbian groups, and dissident use of the Internet – via diverse channels such aschatrooms, online gaming, peer-to-peer technologies – have given rise to akaleidoscope for the examination of the intricate interplay among a myriad ofsocial forces in the networks of Chinese netizens, whose impact goes farbeyond the online communities and beyond the borders of the People’sRepublic per se.ACCESS, DEMOGRAPHICS, AND PROBLEMS OFDIFFUSIONWho is using the Internet in China? How do they connect to the World WideWeb, for what purposes, and how are Internet resources distributed throughoutthe country? Before reviewing the demography and geography of China’sInternet, it is imperative to recognize that access to information and communicationtechnology is socially shaped (Dutton, 1999), and therefore reflectsfundamental structures of a given society. In China, Internet access is largelylimited to relatively affluent social groups in urban and urbanizing areas, espe-