ABSTRACT
Chinese language TV dramas are both agents and beneficiaries of a trans-
national market commonly understood as the sum of two parts. Hong Kong, Taiwan and China comprise the first part, sometimes referred to as
the ‘‘pan-Chinese’’ region. The overseas communities of the global Chinese
diaspora make up the second part of the transnational market. Some Chi-
nese language television production now occurs in the diaspora, but the
distinct domestic media industries that grew up in Hong Kong, Taiwan and
China while they were divided along political and economic lines for most
of the past century remain the centers of Chinese media production. Look-
ing at television dramas from each of the three, this chapter utilizes a ‘‘cultural-linguistic markets’’ frame to explore forces conducive to the global
circulation of Chinese television drama, and the cultural and economic
ramifications of this circulation. The emergence of a Chinese cultural-lin-
guistic market, together with other cultural-linguistic markets, complicates
the global cultural flows and power dynamics. Do emerging cultural-lin-
guistic markets challenge the global dominance of mainly American-made
cultural products in English? Are we witnessing the dawn of global cultural
diversity, or is this just cultural imperialism re-fashioned in a new pact that carves the world into a few cultural-linguistic spheres of influence, and
marginalizes other cultures? Finally, what does all this mean for the future
of Chinese television drama in particular, and Chinese language media
practices in general?
