The Internet in Everyday Life,edited by Barry Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite,with foreword by Howard Rheingold and preface by Manuel Castells. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. xxxviii + 586 pp. $29.95 paper. ISBN 0-631-23508-6

To understand the ultimate status of Internet studies, it is necessary to observe from both a holistic and a particularistic perspective. This article examines one small area of research, the Internet in China, to use that case study as a lens with which to discern the development of Internet studies. By comparing this micro view of the parameters, agendas, and research foci of Chinese Internet research to the larger body of Internet research, it draws insights into the present and future of Internet studies more generally.