ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at each of these critical factors in turn: the nature and scope of advertising in China; key influences on Chinese advertising practice; the role of advertising in the globalisation of Chinese culture; and China's contribution to the global advertising industry. Advertising in China is often described as having 'leapfrogged' many of the key phases and challenges that Western advertising experienced. The first advertising clients in China, post 1979, were global corporations that arrived to take advantage of the newly open, and seemingly limitless, Chinese market. There is little question that China has leapt straight into the digital age with 632 million Internet users and 480 million smartphone owners. It has also raced ahead of the rest of the world in embracing e-commerce and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketing. The central government in China continues to play a decisive role in regulating advertising communication.
