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Revision with unchanged content. Why has China moved so rapidly in its ICT sector? Who is behind the scene to break the monopoly of China Telecom and develop the ICT infrastructure? What are the political struggles involved in the buildup of the ICT sector in China? These are important issues addressed in this book. It is amazing that China has reached 162 million netizens, second only to the United States (211 million) by June 2007. This intrigued us to uncover the political struggles behind the breakup of China Telecom and the diffusion of the Internet to give a systematic explanation to the readers. The book concentrates on the role of leaders in order to burrow the process in which IT elites can devise, within limits, strategies to hasten trends in ICT diffusion, thus having a potential impact on political changes in China. In sum, this book is helpful for those who are interested in Chinese politics, state-society relationship, ICT diffusion, the middle class and leadership in China.

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