With the rapid development of the new media, the interplay of online discussion and offline action is becoming a frequently happened phenomenon in China which fosters citizens’ community empowerment. There are two main approaches to interpret media performance in community empowerment. One is to cultivate people’s cultural identity. Another is to mobilize collective contest. Community media functions differently in the two dimensions. Rooted in the Chinese context, the current research and practice on media and community empowerment usually emphasis on "the Other-Help". However, the future researches need to shed light on the subjectivity of the community residents so as to explore the power and communicative relationships among citizens, media and society.