ABSTRACT

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.

chapter 1|10 pages

Orchestrating thinking

Communications in China

chapter 2|16 pages

Internet censorship in China

A functioning digital panopticon

chapter 5|16 pages

Public relations, persona-building, and national identity construction in China

A case study of 'The Chinese Dream'

chapter 6|15 pages

Constructing a discourse of 'Red merit'

The orchestrated communication of China's 'Red Collectors'

chapter 8|13 pages

Orchestrating opinions

A case study of mainland Chinese responses to Hong Kong's mass protests

chapter 10|13 pages

"Our sugar daddy can never control us"

How television professionals negotiate with market forces in Chinese entertainment shows

chapter 11|16 pages

Digital business governance

The algorithm design of the short video-sharing application – TikTok

chapter 12|14 pages

Male anxiety and self-victimisation

Chinese young men's perception of gender dynamics and intimacy

chapter 13|14 pages

Neoliberal femininities in China

The conflicting gender discourse of transgender celebrity, Jin Xing