ABSTRACT
In the popular sector of international media, especially visual media such as
television, China is represented as embracing capitalism at a phenomenal
speed, swept along by consumerism, market liberalism, globalization and
technological convergence. Stories ranging from the conspicuous consump-
tion of the ‘‘new rich,’’ the emergence of the middle-class, the ‘‘explosive’’
growth of Internet users, mobile phone owners or car buyers for that
matter – usually complete with figures and statistics intended to show stag-
gering increase – to the triumphant arrival of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corps, fall comfortably into this narrative framework. They have become
‘‘perennial’’ news stories, whose details are new and fresh but whose narrative
forms and discursive strategies precede the actual news. These stories are
usually framed in a way to suggest that there is only one story to tell about
China’s modernization project and only one way of telling this story: capit-
alism is the only game in town. Not only that, China in this story provides
evidence that ‘‘backward’’ or ‘‘authoritarian’’ nations are welcome to join
the game, as long as they play by the rules. The sporadic flare-ups in the Western media, carrying Western accusations of China’s breaching or
violation of intellectual property rights or copyright, encapsulate precisely
the West’s anxiety about possible ‘‘foul play’’ in this game of transnational
corporatist capitalism.
