A two-day conference, "China and the Internet: Technology, Economy, and Society in Transition," was held on May 30-31, at the Davidson Conference Center, University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The conference brought together over 60 scholars, researchers, journalists, policy analysts, industry leaders, and legal practitioners worldwide, including participants from Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, and Singapore. But quite a number of registered participants from China and Hong Kong were unable to attend because of SARS. Among the issues addressed are: Why can China sustain the Internet boom? What is the social, economic, and cultural impact of the Internet on china? What roles do government authorities, information technology firms, and grassroots virtual communities play in shaping the new technology under the transitional economy. In china, 28.2 million people have access to the Internet and 77% of city governments have set up the Internet connection. Some 560 web sites with gov.cn domains were registered in 1998. The number is grown to 7,796 by the end of 2002.
The conference was organized by Annenberg School for communication, University of Southern California, Howard M. Squadron Program in Law, Media and Society, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, and Stanhope Centre for Communication Policy Research. Co-sponsors of the conference include The Markle Foundation, RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, Online Journalism Review, Quello Center for Telecom, Nanyang Technological University, and Sina.com.