Introduction

This book studies the transformation of the policy and regulation of the Chinese television sector within a national political and economic context from 1996 to 2015. The study also engages in the theoretical debates over the nature of the transformation of television broadcasting in the transitional Chinese state, the nature of the implication of the central-local tension upon the policy-making, regulation and the structure of China’s television sector, and the nature of the television broadcasting modernization process in a developing country. At the national level, the study investigates China’s national television regulatory policy and structural changes from 1996 to 2015 and the reasons for the changes, because since 1996, a substantial transformation has been ongoing in China’s television broadcasting system, involving institutional, structural and regulatory changes. Theoretical accounts developed in the former communist Eastern European context to explain the nature of transformation of Chinese TV broadcasting are contested. At the national-local level, it investigates the changes in practices and market structures in the local Shanghai television broadcasting system, and the television policy-making and implementation process in Guangdong. China is not a homogeneous entity; it is a large country with diverse local cultures with different dialects, lifestyles, traditions and customs. The uneven economic development between regions has led to differentiation in the structure of the market and different priorities in development policy. It is important for researchers to recognize this regional segmentation, and investigate its impact upon the local media (Ciu and Liu, 2000). Second, the tension between central and local governments observed in China’s economy has also become increasingly apparent in the television sector: how does this central-local nexus influence policy-making, regulation and the transformation of the television sector? This is a very important issue that cannot be ignored in a study that aims to understand the complex reasons for the changes. Three interpretations of the implication of the central-local tension upon the existing political structure are contested. This research adopts the case study method for the investigations on localcentral tension and local diversity. The identification of the case studies is based on the degree of relevance of the case to the theoretical concerns of this study,

the economic and political significance of the case study and the accessibility of the data. The case studies chosen are two local broadcasting systems – those of Shanghai and Guangdong. By drawing evidence from the investigations above, the study then moves on to analyze the major theoretical issue – the nature of the modernization process in developing countries in international communication studies. Three arguments conceptualizing the nature of China’s modernization process – the development paradigm, political economy and Chinese modernity – are also contested against the evidence.