At the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party,
socialist democracy and harmony was defined as part of China's
national modernisation goal to be accomplished within the first two
decades of the 21st century. China has since developed a series of
new regulations and initiatives aiming at increasing governance
transparency and encouraging citizenry participation. This article
discusses citizenry participation under the backdrop of the
contemporary Chinese society. Drawing on recent internet
development and application data, the article discusses
opportunities and challenges of using internet as a platform to
promote political democracy in China. Strategies to deal with the
perceived challenge are articulated based on critiques on
Habermas's ideal of public sphere and Paulo Freire's theory of
participatory communication. The proposition this article argues
for is that participation is not a gift bestowed by the government
to its citizenry. It is a societal action performed by the citizen.
The perception of participation as a societal action implies two
crucial aspects of constructive participation, namely
responsibility and capability of participation.
KEY WORDS: political democracy, citizenry participation, public
sphere