{"product_id":"the-wall-dancers-yi-ling-liu-9780593491850","title":"The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn indelible, deeply reported human narrative of contemporary China in which the country's carefully regulated internet offers a lens into the broader national tension between freedom and control\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the late 1990s, as the world was waking up to the power of the internet, Chinese authorities began constructing a system of online surveillance and censorship that became known as the Great Firewall. But far from being a barren landscape, the online world that sprouted up behind the firewall evolved into a space where Chinese citizens could find previously unimaginable connection and opportunity, teeming with new subcultures and tech innovations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eToday, as the country's leadership has intensified its control of public discourse and western headlines reduce the Chinese public to a faceless monolith, journalist Yi-Ling Liu offers an intimate portrait of China's online ecosystem-and a crucial lens into the on-the-ground reality of life there. In tracing the evolution of the Chinese internet--from its lexicon to its memes to the precise nature of its censorship--she equips readers with a critical tool to assess the past, present, and future of a global power. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Dancers \u003c\/i\u003espans the last three decades in China, a period that encapsulates the country's transformation into both the world's largest online userbase and one of its most populous authoritarian states--from 1995, when ordinary Chinese people first logged onto the internet, swept up by its emancipatory promise\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003eto the present day, as China closes off its virtual borders. Drawing on years of firsthand reporting, Liu weaves together the stories of individual citizens navigating this transformation: the entrepreneurs, activists, artists, and dreamers striving for freedom and connection within the state's shifting boundaries. As Liu's subjects experience the internet's power as a tool of both control and liberation, they grapple with universal questions of success and authenticity, love and solidarity, faith and resilience. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Dancers\u003c\/i\u003e is at once an unforgettable work of human storytelling and a vital exploration of what it means to live with dignity and hope within the technological systems that now shape all of our lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Yi-Ling Liu\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0593491858\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593491850\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Knopf Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/03\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Yi-Ling Liu","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47202656518399,"sku":"9780593491850","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0b228479-82cf-4629-81d7-98cbb2bcb4a9.jpg?v=1756833012","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-wall-dancers-yi-ling-liu-9780593491850","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}