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Cultural Governance in Contemporary China: Popular Culture, Digital Technology, and the State

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Cultural Governance in Contemporary China: Popular Culture, Digital Technology, and the State ! ! ! ! CULTURAL GOVERNANCE IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA: POPULAR CULTURE, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, AND THE STATE BY LUZHOU LI DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communications and Media in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Emeritus John Nerone, Chair Assistant Professor Amanda Ciafone Professor Emeritus Dan Schiller Professor Kent Ono, University of Utah ii ABSTRACT This dissertation is a study of the historical formation and transformation of the Chinese online audiovisual industry under forces of strategic political calculations, expanding market relations, and growing social participation, and the cultural ramifications of this process, especially the kind of transformations digital technologies have wrought on the state-TV-station-centered mode of cultural production/distribution and regulatory apparatuses. Through this case, the project aims to theorize the changing mode of cultural governance of post-socialist regimes in the context of digital capitalism. Using mixed methods of documentary research, interviews with industry practitioners, participant observations of trade fairs/festivals, and critical discourse analyses of popular cultural texts, the study finds that the traditional broadcasting and the online video sectors are structured along two different political economic mechanisms. While the former is dominated by domestic capital and heavily regulated by state agencies, the latter is supported by transnational capital and less regulated. Digital technologies coupled with transnational capital thus generate new cultural flows, processes, and practices, which produces a heterogeneous and contested cultural sphere in the digital environment that substantially differs from the one created by traditional television. The development of such a sphere in a cultural environment that was historically policed suggests that the Chinese state strategically configures the cultural realm into multiple zones delineated by technological forms. Cultural zoning allows the state to accommodate needs in relation to transnational forces while simultaneously retaining socialist legacies through state iii media. Zoning technology demonstrates flexibility in cultural governance and thus illuminates the extraordinary resilience of post-socialist regimes amid neoliberal globalization. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Doing a PhD is a long process accompanied by uncertainties, anxieties, and self-doubt. The most fortunate thing in my doctoral studies was to have Prof. John Nerone as my adviser; I could not be more grateful. Prof. Nerone is truly kind, reliable, and supportive. He guided me through numerous hurdles and struggles of my PhD life. I sometimes worried too much and doubted myself, but Prof. Nerone always assured me that I would be doing well. I could not have completed so smoothly without his encouragement and dedication. As a scholar, Prof. Nerone is also incredibly insightful, well rounded, and humorous. It was through numerous inspiring conversations with him that the initial ideas of this dissertation formed and developed into a manageable project. Equally, I have always been inspired by his large-minded view of life, world, and history. He inspires me not only to become a good scholar, but more importantly, to be a better human being. Thank you, Prof. Nerone. Prof. Kent Ono is another caring, considerate, and supportive professor, colleague, and friend. I first met Prof. Ono at the NCA Scholar to Scholar session in 2009 before I moved to Illinois. His generosity to young scholars inspired me to pursue my doctoral studies in the ICR. In the following years, I was fortunate enough to work with him in editing two top journals in the field. It was invaluable experience for me to work with and learn from Prof. Ono as a gracious, responsible, and meticulous scholar and editor. Over the years, Prof. Ono constantly cared about my studies and professional development and gave me support whenever it was needed. I am deeply grateful to him. v Prof. Dan Schiller is always a respectable scholar. I took the course Information in Society with him, where I first became aware of the importance of historicization. Since then, Prof. Schiller has constantly pushed me to think about a number of key concepts in my research. His humanistic concerns, his rigorous scholarship, his support for young scholars, and his persistent interest in China all inspire me. Prof. Schiller is also a tenderhearted and caring teacher and friend who always coached and encouraged me when I felt frustrated. I will forever remember the moments when he attempted to initiate small talks before my prelim and doctoral defenses to alleviate my nervousness. I am also deeply grateful to Prof. Amanda Ciafone who joined the committee and helped me with the dissertation when she was most needed. She made time for me and provided me with sets of crucial and detailed comments, which would serve as an extraordinarily helpful starting point for me to move forward with the project. Above and beyond her intellectual input in the project, Prof. Ciafone is also such an amiable, sincere, and frank friend who generously shared her academic and life experience with me. I am indebted to several other professors who supported my doctoral studies. Prof. Poshek Fu helped me through several important stages in my doctoral studies including the prelim exam and pointed me to numerous important studies on Chinese popular culture. His historical work on the pan-Chinese cinema between 1935 and 1950 served as inspiration for my own work, albeit in a different time period. It was also through Prof. Fu that I came to appreciate the beauty of historical research. Prof. Angharad Valdivia constantly supported me and directed me to much-needed resources at crucial moments in my doctoral studies. I am also thankful to vi Prof. Cameron McCarthy, Prof. James Hay, Prof. Robert McChesney, Prof. Ann Reisner, and Prof. Paula Treichler for their intellectual inspirations in different aspects. My friends at Illinois have always been a great source of support. Wenrui Chen, Kunyang He, and Priscilla Tse made my life much more enjoyable by organizing hotpot gatherings, badminton games, and other cultural activities. Cheol Gi Bae took care of me like an older brother before he graduated in December 2013. Chunfeng Lin was always a good company in the library. Owen Kulemeka offered me much-needed advice during my first year in the ICR. He passed away this summer, but I will forever remember his generosity and infectious laughter. Colleagues and friends at The Chinese University of Hong Kong who helped my doctoral studies in various ways include Anthony Fung, Francis Lee, Jack Qiu, Saskia Witteborn, and Angela Xiao Wu. I thank you all. My deep gratitude also goes to all my informants in China who were so frank in sharing their life and industrial experience with me, as well as my friends in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou who were so generous in referring me to various industry practitioners. This project could not have been completed without their help. My parents, Li Mianshui and Pan Xiaoling, always support my studies and pursuits in any way they can. To my parents this dissertation is dedicated with love and gratitude. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: CULTURE AT THE MILLENNIUM....................................................................20 CHAPTER 2: THE RISE AND FALL OF UGC: THE CHINESE ONLINE AUDIOVISUAL INDUSTRY, 2004-2009 ...............................................................................................................72 CHAPTER 3: COMPETING STATE TELEVISION STATIONS: CONTENT STRATEGIES OF THE ONLINE AUDIOVISUAL INDUSTRY......................................................................151 EPILOGUE: AN OPERATION OF A DUAL CULTURAL SPHERE......................................229 TABLES AND FIGURES...........................................................................................................250 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................259 1 Introduction Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Escape from Tehran, House of Cards, The Purge, Ted, … - All these seemingly contentious television series and Hollywood blockbusters, which fail to make their ways to television and film screens in China, are officially imported and streamed by the country’s video streaming sites like Youku, Tencent Video, and Sohu Video. A few years ago, nascent Chinese video sites were still entangled with vernacular productions (e.g., user-generated content or UGC) and digital piracy. Today, major video sites in China have all transformed into providers of professionally produced copyrighted content, which creates a freewheeling space online where various foreign cultural products have been given a legitimate window to be exploited in the country. Moreover, video sites have also transformed from a technology of distribution into a network of production by actively establishing their in-house projects. Articulating a wide range of resources, labor, and subjectivities falling outside state cultural institutions, video sites unequivocally direct the spearhead of their efforts against state television stations. All these happen under the eye of the most
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