ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the change in China's communication response during the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak and the air quality crisis. It examines both the internal and external factors that account for the resistance and submission to the force of globalization. The chapter formulates a model of global–local communication synchronization on the basis of the health-related issues cases and examines their consequences. It aims to fill the gaps by developing a model that explains the national communication response by examining how the interplay among media, the state, global institutions, and expert communities has resulted in the synchronization of global and local communication. The external players include the global and transborder media, the global institutions and expert community, and foreign nation-states. The Chinese media went through "media commercialization", a process by which media respond to competitive pressure in order to enhance their market position and to make profit.
