Communications in Contemporary China: Orchestrating Thinking (Routledge Studies on China in Transition)

Using the analogy of an orchestra, the book looks at the ways in which the Party-state conducts communications in China. Rather than treating China’s communications system as purely one of centralised top-down control, this book proffers that it is the combination of the government through its state policies, the propaganda bureau’s campaigns, commercial consumer culture, digital and traditional media platforms, celebrities, entertainers and journalists, educators, community interest groups, and family and friends, who all contribute to the evolution of how ideas are perpetuated, enforced, and legitimised in China. Covering themes such as censorship, surveillance, national narratives onscreen and in everyday life, political agency, creative work, news production, and gender politics, this book gives an insight into the complex web of conditions, objectives, and challenges that the Chinese leadership and commercial interests face when orchestrating their visions for the nation’s future. As such, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of media and communication studies, Chinese politics, and Chinese Studies. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents List of figures List of contributors Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1 Orchestrating thinking: communications in China 2 Internet censorship in China: a functioning digital panopticon 3 Political control, media marketisation, and news production 4 The American Other and China’s big screens 5 Public relations, persona-building, and national identity construction in China: a case study of ‘The Chinese Dream' 6 Constructing a discourse of ‘Red merit’: the orchestrated communication of China’s ‘Red Collectors' 7 The construction of patriotism in primary school Chinese language textbooks 8 Orchestrating opinions: a case study of mainland Chinese responses to Hong Kong’s mass protests 9 The discursive battle over public participation in China 10 “Our sugar daddy can never control us”: how television professionals negotiate with market forces in Chinese entertainment shows 11 Digital business governance: the algorithm design of the short video-sharing application – TikTok 12 Male anxiety and self-victimisation: Chinese young men’s perception of gender dynamics and intimacy 13 Neoliberal femininities in China: the conflicting gender discourse of transgender celebrity, Jin Xing Index