ABSTRACT

Mapping Media in China is the first book-length study that goes below the ‘national’ scale to focus on the rich diversity of media in China from local, provincial and regional angles. China’s media has played a crucial role in shaping and directing the country’s social and cultural changes, and whilst these shifts have often been discussed as a single and coherent phenomenon, this ignores the vast array of local and regional variations within the country’s borders.

This book explores media as both a reflection of the diversity within China and as an active agent behind these growing differences. It examines the role of media in shaping regional, provincial and local identities through the prism of media economics and technology, media practices, audiences, as well as media discourses. The book covers a wide range of themes, including civil society, political resistance, state power and the production and consumption of place-specific memory and imagination.

With contributions from around the world, including original ethnographic material from scholars based in China, Mapping Media in China is an original book which spans a broad range of disciplines. It will be invaluable to both students and scholars of Chinese and Asian studies, media and communication studies, geography, anthropology and cultural studies.

part I|27 pages

Methodologies and frameworks

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|15 pages

Localizing Chinese media

A geographic turn in media and communication research

part II|47 pages

Local politics

chapter 2|16 pages

Provincial papers, national power

The scaling up of the Nanfang Daily Media Group

chapter 3|15 pages

Dialects and local media

The cases of Kunming and Yunnan TV

chapter 4|14 pages

Top-down policies versus grassroots resistance

The management of illegal satellite dishes in Chinese villages

part III|30 pages

Rural cultures

chapter 6|13 pages

‘Family' vs. ‘state' in media ritual

Fieldwork in an ethnic minority village in Yunnan province

part IV|52 pages

Regional formations

chapter 9|16 pages

Sliding scales

The mediated lives of Miao pop singer A You Duo

part V|53 pages

Rescaling place

chapter 10|15 pages

Making an empty show of strength

Media and the politics of discernment in provincial place branding projects 1

chapter 11|17 pages

Living Red

Production, consumption and local memory of revolutionary culture in Linyi

chapter 12|19 pages

Heritage struggles and place-makings in Zhejiang Province

Local media, cross-regional media interactions and media strategies from below