Routledge Freedom of Information Reform in China: Information Flow Analysis: 10 (Routledge Law in Asia)

Freedom of Information (FOI) in China is often perceived as a recent and intriguing phenomenon. This book presents a more complex and detailed understanding of the evolution of FOI in China, using information flow analysis to explore the gradual development of government receptivity to FOI in an information environment through time. The book argues that it is necessary to reassess the widely divergent origins of FOI reform in China, and asserts that social, political and legal factors should have central roles in understanding the development of FOI in China. The book uses information flow analysis to find that FOI reform in China formed part of a much longer process of increased transparency in the Chinese information environment, which gradually shifted from the acceptance of proactive disclosure to that of reactive disclosure. FOI thus has become a beneficiary of this gradual transformation of the Chinese information environment. Review "Xiao’s book is a very accessible, scholarly text geared to readers in a wide range ofdisciplines. Public administration and legal scholars will find new and eloquent arguments explaining the emergence of legislation on freedom of information in China; for political science scholars, the book’s in-depth portrait and analysis of the ensuing legislative process offer another case illuminating the complexity and intricacies of China’s reform; and for media and communication scholars focusing on freedom of the media, the book introduces a closely related but less studied subject: freedom of information."- Fei Shen, City University of Hong Kong; China Information 2012 26: 391 About the Author Weibing Xiao is Associate Professor of Law, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, China.