China's Digital Society

Over the past decade, the Chinese government has accelerated its policy of “informatization”. This seeks to introduce digital technologies in all walks of social and economic life. China is poised to become a global leader in data and artificial intelligence technologies, building up smart cities, a world-class digital economy and an all-encompassing data architecture. This, in turn, has raised many concerns abroad: is China perfecting a digital Orwellian state? Does the Social Credit System mean Black Mirror-type nightmares? Will China’s technologies impact our societies? Yet at the same time, does China perhaps have something to teach us? 

Rogier Creemers is a postdoctoral scholar in the Law and Governance of China, working for both the Van Vollenhoven Institute and the Leiden Institute for Area Studies. His main research interests are the interaction between law, governance and information technology in China, and Chinese political-legal ideology. His work has been published in The China Journal and the Journal of Contemporary China. He also edits China Copyright and Media, a database of translated Chinese policy and regulatory documents in his fields of interest. He has regularly contributed to reports in media such as the New York Times and the Financial Times, and has provided input into policy processes such as the Sino-EU Cyber Dialogue.

This lecture is organized in collaboration with Centre for East Asian Studies Groningen (CEASG)