Media and Culture in China

SOCT 220

2010-2011

School of Arts and Humanities

Nottingham Trent University

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Overview of the Module

This module aims to offer an insight into modern media development and cultural
change in China, placing this in the context of broader economic and cultural
transformation since the 19th century. It will explore a wide range of issues such as the
emergence of the modern press, China’s entry into cultural modernity, the impact of
globalization and the role of media institutions and technologies in shaping
contemporary Chinese culture. The module focuses on a variety of media forms
including print media, broadcasting, film and the internet. It will engage with some
key debates around issues such as cultural imperialism, media and democracy and
contemporary popular culture.

Learning Outcomes

After studying this module, you should be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the key issues, debates and controversies

related to contemporary Chinese media and cultural and political
communication.
• Show critical understanding of how historical, cultural, social and political
contexts and discourses shape the development of journalism and media in
China.
• Show knowledge of the roles and functions of new media technologies in
China’s rapid modernization process.
• Intervene in an informed way in debates over the main issues of contemporary
Chinese media and culture in a global perspective.

Organization of the Module

On the whole, the module is delivered via a series of two hour lectures, screenings
and workshops. In addition, tutorials with the contributing members of the teaching
team are offered via the system of staff office hours. You will also receive
recommendations for public lectures, films and internet sources of interest as well as
guided reading tasks and more general ‘further reading’ lists.

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Assessment Methods (20 credits)

Assessment One: Group Presentation (30%)

Working in small groups, you will prepare and present a seminar based on a piece of
reading (usually an article or a chapter of a book) supplied to you. The assessment
will be on a group basis and will be based both on the demonstration of a grasp of the
material and on the quality of the presentation and organization of the seminar.

Assessment Two: 3000 Word Coursework Essay (70%)

Essay titles will be provided at the beginning of Term Two. The deadline for the
submission of essays is Friday April 29th, 2011 ( 2.00 p.m.).

Module leader Tao Zhang can be contacted via email (tao.zhang@ntu.ac.uk) or phone
(0115 848 6609). Her office is in GE211.

Session Programme

Monday 13:00-15:00

Session Term One

1 Week 11, Overview Lecture

4 Oct
Block One History and Media

2 Week 12, Media in traditional Chinese Lecture

11Oct culture
3 Week 13, The origins of the modern Lecture
18 Oct Chinese press
Week 14, No lectures
25 Oct
4 Week 15, The missionary press and the Student Presentations
1 Nov issue of cultural imperialism

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 Block Two Politics and Media

5 Week 16, The impact of globalization on Lecture

8 Nov Chinese media and culture
Week 17, Events Week
15 Nov
Week 18, No lectures
22 Nov
6 Week 19, The internet and civil society Lecture
29 Nov development in China

7 Week20, Understanding contemporary Lecture

6 Dec Chinese culture

Week 21-24 Xmas Break

Term Two

8 Week 25, Chinese road to capitalism? Screening

10 Jan
9 Week 26, Cultural and media politics Student Presentations
17 Jan in China since 1949

Block Three Transformation of media

since 1978

10 Week 27, Media reform since 1978 Lecture

24 Jan
11 Week 28, Contemporary Chinese Lecture
31 Jan cinema

12 Week29, Spring Festival Gala as a Lecture

7 Feb media event

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 Week 30, Events Week
14 Feb
Week31, No Lectures
21 Feb
13 Week32, The sixth-generation film Student Presentations
28 Feb directors in China

Block Four Chinese media and culture

in the 21st century

14 Week 33, Media and popular culture Lecture

7 Mar

15 Week 34, New media technology and Lecture

14 Mar everyday life

16 Week 35, TV soaps in the internet era Lecture

21 Mar

17 Week 38, BBC Question time from Screening

11Apr Shanghai

18 Week 39, Media and Public service in Student Presentations

18 Apr China?

Session One

Overview: Media and Culture in China

This session will provide an overview of the key issues confronting cultural and
political analysis of media forms and institutions in China. We will approach these
issues from historical, sociological and cultural studies perspectives and pay particular
attention to debates around: the particular character of cultural modernity in China,

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issues of state control of the media, the question of media imperialism and the impact
of cultural globalization.

Reading List:

Curran, J. and Park, Myung-Jin (eds.) (2000) De-westernizing Media Studies London:
Routledge

Lee Chin-Chuan (2009) Chinese Media: Global Contexts London: Routledge

Held, D and McGrew, A (eds.) (2003) The Global Transformations Reader

(2nd Edition), Cambridge, Polity Press

Appadurai, Arjun (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization,

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Williams, Raymond (1981) Culture, London: Fontana

Kam louie (2008) (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Modern Chinese Culture
Cambridge University Press

Session Two

Media in Traditional Chinese Culture

In this session, we will sketch the history of the Chinese Imperial Press – a set of
official organs originally used for disseminating imperial edicts, documenting
government appointments and reporting court affairs, which lasted, with little change,
from the Tang to the late Qing Dynasty. We will pay particular attention to the unique
relationship, intrinsic to the communicational function of these newspapers, between
the gentry class, the state and wider society – a relationship which sustained the
traditional social order in China for over one thousand years.

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Reading List:

Lin Yutang (1937) A History of the Press and Public Opinion in China Shanghai:
Kelly & Walsh
Zhang, Tao (2007) The Origins of the Modern Chinese Press: the influence of the
Protestant missionary press in late Qing China London: Routledge

Hsu, Immanuel C. Y. (1990) The Rise of Modern China Oxford: Oxford University
Press

Louie, Kam (ed.) (2008) The Cambridge Companion to Modern Chinese Culture
Cambridge University Press

Fairbank, John King (1995) ‘Introduction: The Old Order’ in John King Fairbank
(ed.) The Cambridge History of China Vol.10 Late Ch’ing 1800-1911 Part I.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Session Three

The Origins of the Modern Chinese Press

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the modern Chinese press initiated
by the missionaries had developed for half a century, their example of journalistic
practice began to be known and adopted by the Chinese, firstly in the coastal treaty
ports and then in the hinterland. In this session, we will examine how Wanguo
Gongbao, the flagship of the missionary press inspired Chinese scholars to launch
their own press in their reform campaigns.

Reading List:

Cohen, Paul A. (1995) ‘Christian missions and their impact to 1900’ in John K.
Fairbank (ed.) The Cambridge History of China Vol. 10 Late Ch’ing 1800-1911, Part
I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press pp.543-90

Chang Hao (1976) Liang Qichao and Intellectual Transition in China 1890-1907
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press

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Wagner, Rudolf (1995) ‘The Role of the Foreign Community in the Chinese Public
Sphere’ in The China Quarterly June: 423-43

Richard, Timothy (1916) Forty-five Years in China London: T. Fisher Unwin

Session Four

Student Presentations: The Missionary Press and the Issue of Cultural Imperialism

Session Five

The Impact of Globalization on Chinese Media and Culture

This session looks at the way in which the process of globalization has impacted upon
Chinese cultural practices and experience since the 1980s. Making particular
reference to the theory of ‘deterritorialization’, it will focus particularly on arguments
about possible transformations in cultural values associated with the rapid rise in
consumer culture on the one hand, and access, via the media, to the values of Western
liberalism on the other.

Reading List:

Tomlinson, John (1999) Cultural Imperialism: a critical introduction

London: Continuum

Tomlinson, John (1999) Globalization and Culture Cambridge: Polity Press

Wu Guoguang & Lansdowne, Helen (2009) Socialist China, capitalistic China:

social tension and political transition under globalization Routledge

Guthrie, Doug (2008) China and Globalization New York: Routledge

Wang Ning and Sun Yifeng (ed) (2008) Translation, globalization and localization: a
Chinese perspective Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters

Mackinnon, Alex & Powell, Barnaby (2008) China Calling: a foot in the global door
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

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Session Six

The Impact of the Internet on Civil Society in China

The rapid and widespread expansion of the internet has played an important role in
shaping China’s fast changing economic, political and cultural landscape in recent
years. This session will examine how the internet influences the development of civil
society in China. The state’s media policy in regard to the internet and related issues
and problems in social organization will be explored.

Reading List:

Yang, Guobin (2003) ‘The internet and civil society in China: a preliminary
assessment’ in Journal of Contemporary China (2003) 12 (36) August, 453-475

Zhang, Xiaoling and Zheng, Yongnian (2008) (eds.) China’s information and
communication technology revolution: political impacts and state responses
London: Routledge

Qiu, Jack Linchuan (2009) Working-class network society: communication

technology and the information have-less in urban China London: MIT

Deans, P. (2004). 'The Internet In the People's Republic of China: Censorship and
Participation' in Abbott, J.P., (ed) The Political Economy of the Internet in Asia and
the Pacific: Digital Divides, Economic Competitiveness, and Security Challenges
Westport: Praeger

Giese, K. (2003). 'Construction and Performance of Virtual Identity in the Chinese

Internet' in Ho, K.C., Kluver, R, and Yang K.C.C. (eds.) Asia.com: Asia Encounters
the Internet London: Routledge

Li, X., Xuan, Q., and Kluver, R., (2003). 'Who is Setting the Chinese Agenda?' in Ho,
K.C., Kluver, R, and Yang K.C.C. (eds.) Asia.com: Asia Encounters the Internet
London: Routledge Curzon

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Session Seven

Understanding Contemporary Chinese Culture

In this session, we will explore the dramatic cultural transformations in China since
the ‘Open-door policy’ by sketching the main Chinese intellectual debates since the
1980s. The complex pattern of intellectual debate and cultural movement will be
critically examined, focusing on issues such as the ‘Democracy Wall Movement’ and
the ‘New Left versus Liberal’ political cultural controversy.

Reading List:

Wang, Chaohua (2003) (ed.) One China, Many Paths London: Verso

Barme, Geremie. R. (1999) In the Red: on contemporary Chinese culture New York:
Columbia University Press

Claudia, Albertini (2008) Avatars and antiheros: a guide to contemporary Chinese

artists New York: Kodansha

Zhang, Xudong (1997) Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reforms Duke University
Press

Tang, Xiaobing & Snyder, Stephen (1996) (eds.) In Pursuit of Contemporary East
Asian Culture Westview Press

Sun, Wanning (2009) Maid in China: media, morality and the cultural politics of
boundaries London: Routledge

Term Two

Session Eight

Screening: China’s Capitalist Revolution

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Session Nine

Student Presentations: Cultural and Media Politics in China since 1949

Session Ten

Media Reform in China since 1978

In the past two decades, Chinese media has gone through dramatic changes. This
session will employ short case studies of Pearl River Economic Radio, East Radio,
CCTV and Phoenix TV to explore the different stages of broadcasting reform since
the 1980s. A critical approach will be applied to examine the tension between the
promotion of media commercialization and the continuance of political control by the
state.

Reading List:

Zhao, Yuezhi (2008) Communication in China: political economy, power and conflict
Rowman and Littlefield

Zhao, Yuezhi (1998) Media, Market and Democracy in China University of Illinois
Press

Hong, Junhao (1998) The Internationalization of Television in China London: Praeger

Chin-chuan Lee (ed.) (2000) Power, Money and Media: Communication Patterns and
Bureaucratic Control in Cultural China Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press

De Burgh, Hugo (2003) The Chinese Journalist: mediating information in the world’s
most populous country London: Routledge Curzon

Dong, Steven Guanpeng and Shi, Anbin (2007) “Chinese news in transition: facing
the challenge of global competition” in Daya Thussu (ed.) Media on the Move:
Global flow and contra-flow London: Routledge

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Session Eleven

Contemporary Chinese Cinema

Since the 1980s, Chinese cinema has emerged as an important player in the
international film industry. This session will examine the cultural meanings and
cinematographic features of the fifth and sixth generation cinema. It will explore the
way in which Chinese cinema has changed from radical avant-gardism to
commercialization in the process of cultural globalization.

Reading List:

Zhang, Yingjin (2004) Chinese National Cinema London: Routledge

Lau, Jenny Kwok Wah (2003) (ed.) Multiple Modernities: Cinemas and Popular
Media in Transcultural East Asia Philadelphia: Temple University Press

Zhang, Xudong (1997) “Politics of the Visual Encounter: Reading the Fifth
Generation” in Zhang, Xudong (1997) Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reforms
Duke University Press 201-390

Clark, Paul (1987) Chinese Cinema: culture & politics since 1949 Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press

Brown, Nick, Paul G. Pickowicz, Vivian Sobchack and Esther Yau (eds.) (1994) New
Chinese Cinemas: Forms, Identities, Politics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Session Twelve

Spring Festival Gala as a Media Event

Since 1983, the Chinese Central Television (CCTV) Spring Festival Gala has been
institutionalised into an indispensable part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. In
this session, we will apply a case study of the 2008 Gala and examine how the Party
state manipulates such a media event to maintain its power. The general development

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of media policy on popular entertainment broadcasting in the past two decades will be
scrutinized.

Reading List:

Zhao, Bin (1998) ‘Popular family television and party ideology: the Spring Festival
Eve happy gathering’ in Media, Culture & Society 1998, Vol. 20: 43-58

Zheng, Yongnian (1999) Discovering Chinese nationalism in China: modernization,

identity and international relations Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Couldry, Nick; Hepp, Andreas & Krotz, Friedrich (2009) (eds.) Media events in a
global age Routledge

Dayan, Daniel & Katz, Elihu (1992) Media events: the live broadcasting of history
Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press

Murphy, Rachel & Fong, Vanessa L. (2009) (eds.) Media, identity, and struggle in
twenty-first-century China London: Routledge

Session Thirteen

Student Presentations: The ‘sixth-generation’ film directors in China

Session Fourteen

Media and Popular Culture in China

This session will explore some broad features of popular culture in China, focussing
particularly on the medium of television. The session will consider in particular how
popular genres and programme formats have been appropriated from the West and in
what ways they have been adapted to appeal to a Chinese audience. The session will
go on to explore arguments about the cultural values implicit in popular television
productions.

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Reading List:

Rojas, Carlos & Chow, Eileen Cheng-yin (2009) (eds.) Rethinking Chinese popular
culture: cannibalisations of the canon London: Routledge

Fiske, John (1989) Reading the Popular, London: Routledge

Fan Dian and Zhang Ga (2009) (eds.) Synthetic times: media art China 2008 London:
MIT

Lent, John A. (1995) (ed.) Asian Popular Culture London: Westview Press

Session Fifteen

New Media Technology and Everyday Life in China

This session engages with debates on the cultural impact of new media, particularly
the mobile phone, on people’s daily life in modern China. It will introduce a
theoretical framework exploring how new media reorganize time and space in global
culture and local settings. The recent Chinese film Cell Phone will be used as the
main text to analyze the cultural impact of the mobile phone as a significant form of
new communication technology in China.

Reading List:

Bauman, Zygmunt (2000) Liquid Modernity Cambridge: Polity Press

Meyrowitz, Joshua (1994) No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on

Social Behaviour New York: Oxford University Press

Moores, Shaun (2000) Media and Everyday Life in Modern Society Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press

Carolyn & J.C. Ma (2008) (eds.) The Chinese Diaspora: Place Space, Mobility and
Identity London: Routledge

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Wei, Ran (2006) “Lifestyles and new media: adoption and use of wireless
communication technologies in China” in New Media and Society Vol.8 (6): 991-
1008

Yu, H., (2007). 'Blogging Everyday Life in Chinese Internet Culture', Asian Studies
Review, 31, 423-433

Session Sixteen

TV Soaps in the Internet Era

In this session, we shall look into the growing influence of the internet on TV soaps in
China. We will explore the close connections between TV soaps and the internet
in terms of script writing, online watching and commenting. ‘Narrow Dwelling’,
one of the most popular TV soaps in 2009, will be used to scrutinize the new
forms of media production and consumption and their complex cultural
meanings.

Reading List:

Yang Guobin (2009) The Power of the Internet in China: citizen activism online
New York: Columbia University Press

He Qinglian (2006) Media Control in China Taipei: Liming Cultural Enterprises

Co.Ltd.

Henry Jenkins (2008) Convergence culture: where old and new media collide New
York: New York University Press

Tubella, Imma (2005) ‘Internet, television and the construction of identity’ in Manuel
Castells (ed.) The Network Society: a cross-cultural perspective 385-401,
Northampton: Edward Elgar

Jill Walker Rettberg (2008) Blogging Cambridge: Polity

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David Morley (2000) Home Territories: Media, Mobility and Identity (Comedia)
London: Routledge

Andrew Keen (2008) The Cult of the Amateur: How blogs, MySpace, YouTube and
the rest of today's user-generated media are killing our culture and economy,
Nicholas Brealey Publishing

Session Seventeen

Screening: BBC Question Time from Shanghai

Session Eighteen

Student Presentations: Media and public service in China?

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