ABSTRACT
The most commercialized sector of the television industry, cable and satellite services has been the engine of China's modern media system. Cable and satellite television technologies powerfully represent the aspirations of the Chinese government for modernization on China's own terms. Media technology infrastructure is the clearest realization of the century-long Chinese national project of, 'Chinese learning for fundamental principles, Western learning for practical applications', of modern technology at the service of the Chinese language and culture. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sees the promise of sophisticated media technologies for national development. State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) regulations of cable content are an extension of the general television regulations, and are heavily focused on the nation-building preoccupation of the CCP. In 1983, as part of the government's overall project of providing television services to the entire nation, China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation (ChinaSat) was formed under the then Ministry of Radio, Film and Television.
