Review of: The Internet, Social Media, and a Changing China, edited by Jacques deLisle, Avery Goldstein, and Guobin Yang. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. vi+284 pp. US$49.95/£32.50 (paper).

In just a decade, media research has gone from a sleepy backwater to the forefront of China studies. This burgeoning popularity stems in part from the flexibility of the topic area. Scholars can use the media as a lens through which to examine other aspects of Chinese society and politics. Unfortunately this blossoming of interest has also brought a proliferation of studies that rehash old ground. Not so the new volume edited by DeLisle, Goldstein and Yang. A series of lucid, well-written chapters cover a wide range of media-centric topics with refreshing originality and lively content. As an edited book it covers a lot of ground, but all the chapters present a real contribution to media studies.