ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that state political propaganda has survived because the combination of economic liberalization and political decentralization has forced the local state, the organs of the Chinese Communist Party and urban government, to adapt, innovate and experiment with new messages and new technologies. It discusses the importance of considering the role that local state actors play in theories of transition in China and other Socialist central planned economies. The chapter then presents evidence from pioneering surveys of outdoor political advertisements in Shanghai and Beijing to demonstrate that the local state in China has indeed adapted to marketization by selling a version of spiritual civilization that serves its own development needs. It also discusses that how the decentralization of political authority has forced the local state to become innovative and to experiment with new messages that may foster the creation of civic identities that transcend the nation-state and yet tie individuals to localities.
