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UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The making of China: The construction of Chineseness during the Beijing Olympics Zeng, G. Publication date 2013 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Zeng, G. (2013). The making of China: The construction of Chineseness during the Beijing Olympics. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:27 Sep 2021 The Making of China The Construction of Chineseness during the Beijing Olympics © Guohua Zeng 2013 Printed by IPSKAMP, the Netherlands. The Making of China The Construction of Chineseness during the Beijing Olympics ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op dinsdag 21 mei 2013, te 14:00 uur door Guohua Zeng geboren te Xinfeng, Jiangxi Province, P. R. China Promotiecommissie Promotores: Prof. dr. J.F.T.M. van Dijck Prof. dr. B.J. de Kloet Overige Leden: Prof. dr. S.R. Landsberger Prof. dr. C.P. Lindner Prof. dr. P.D. Nyiri Dr. J.L. Qiu Prof. dr. B. van Rooij Dr. A.B. Schneider Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen For my parents, and Yu Jie Table of Contents Acknowledgement V Chapter One Chineseness and Beyond 1 Global Media Events and the Opening Ceremony 4 Old Images, New Images, and Soft Power of China 9 Chineseness as an Essentialist Term 14 Strategic “New” Chineseness? 19 Chineseness: One or Many, to Unbind or to Attach to? 27 Discourses, Internet, and Chineseness in Mainland China 33 Understanding Chineseness as a Mediated Construction: Methodological Reflections 39 Situative Centering of Chineseness in Various Media: The Outline of Research 43 Chapter Two Particularity, Universality, and Alternative: The Constructing of New Chineseness 47 To-Be-Looked-At Spectacle 49 New Chineseness and Discourses 55 Splendid Chinese Culture and Long Continuous History 61 Multilayered Harmony 70 Alternative Chinese Modernity 83 Determined Romanticism 89 Conclusion 93 Chapter Three The Janus-Faced China: How is China Presented in Anglo-American Media? 95 Dragon or Panda 96 NBC: Centering the Opening Ceremony with a Commercialized Exoticism 98 BBC: A Broadcasting Serving for British Propaganda 121 Conclusion 136 Chapter Four The Pendulum of Chinese Identity: Chineseness, Geopolitics, and the Live Broadcasts of the Opening Ceremony in Hong Kong and Taiwan 139 Geopolitics and Identity 141 Hong Kong’s Full Alignment with the Mainland: Deliberate but Failed 146 Conclusion 170 Chapter Five The New Chineseness as a Zero Institution: Online Resistance, Antagonism, and National Identity 173 “Zero Institution” as a Void Symbol 176 I Six Critical Discourses 178 The New Chineseness: A Void Symbol with Fierce Antagonism 193 Conclusion 208 Epilogue Communicating Chineseness in a De-imperialized World? 211 New Chineseness and Its Contestations 213 Communicating Chineseness in a De-imperialized World? 216 Coda 224 Appendix I Notes for Data Collection and Analysis 227 Television Broadcasts Collection and Analyzing 227 Online Data Collection and Analysis 229 Online Discourses and Censorship 232 Follow-Up Fieldwork and Press Media Scanning 233 References 237 Samenvatting 255 II List of Tables and Figures Tables: Table 2.1: Program summary of the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. 59 Table 3.1: The contents and structure of NBC’s rebroadcast of the Opening Ceremony. 102 Table 3.2: The pre-event warm-ups of BBC’s live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony. 122 Table 4.1: The contents of impromptu interpretations on culture and history during the Opening Ceremony. 155 Table 5.1: The critical discourses. 182 Table 5.2: Most notable antagonisms among the critical discourses. 194 Table A.1: Investigated websites. 230 Table A.2: Investigated blogs. 231 Table A.3: Composition of interviewees. 235 Figures: Figure 2.1: Key cultural symbols employed in the Opening Ceremony. 63 Figure 2.2: The Ritual Music section. 68 Figure 2.3: Three different forms of the character “和 [he].” 71 Figure 2.4: Key scenes in the Starlight section. 73 Figure 2.5: Key scenes signifying the harmony within Chinese Ethnicity. 74 Figure 2.6: Key scenes signifying/anticipating a “Harmonious World.” 76 Figure 2.7: Scenes in Maritime Silk Route section. 77 Figure 2.8: Key scenes in taijiquan section. 78 Figure 2.9: Scenes of High-tech Olympics and Green Olympics. 84 Figure 2.10: The involvement of the modernistic sports stadiums and the central Beijing. 87 Figure 3.1: The images of “tradition” and “modernity” in NBC’s starting trailer. 104 Figure 3.2: BBC’s features on China’s president Hu Jintao. 129 III List of Abbreviations ATV Asia Television Limited [亞洲電視有限公司,“亚視”] (Hong Kong, PRC) BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (UK) BC Bob Costas (a sports reporter in NBC) BOB The Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd BOCOG The Beijing Organizing Committee of the Beijing Olympic Games BOG The Beijing Olympic Games CCP The Chinese Communist Party (the ruling political party in the PRC) CCTV China Central Television [中央电视台] (PRC) CG Carrie Gracie (a reporter in BBC) CNN Cable News Network (a cable news channel in the US) CTS Chinese Television System [中華電視公司] (Taiwan, ROC) CTV China Television Company, Ltd [中國電視公司] (Taiwan, ROC) FTV Formosa Television, Ltd [民間全民電視股份有限公司] (Taiwan, ROC) GDP Gross domestic product HE Huw Edwards (a reporter in BBC) HI Hazel Irvine (a reporter in BBC) ICT Information and communications technology IOC The International Olympic Committee JCR Joshua Cooper Ramo (a special Chinese Analyst for NBC during the Beijing Olympics) LED Light-emitting diode TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (Hong Kong, PRC) TTV Taiwan Television Enterprise, Ltd [台灣電視公司] (Taiwan, ROC) ML Matthew (Matt) Lauer (a reporter in NBC) NBA The National Basketball Association (a preeminent men's professional basketball league in North America) NBC The National Broadcasting Company (US) PRC The People’s Republic of China [中华人民共和国] ROC The Republic of China [中華民國] UK The United Kingdom US The United States of American VIP Very Important Person IV Acknowledgement First of all, I wish to dedicate this dissertation to my father Zeng Yunnan, my mother Zhang Jinnü, and my wife Yu Jie, for their unconditional love and support. My parents had made their best efforts in providing me the best education that was available in my home region, and have been supporting every choice I make. I especially wish to commemorate my mother, who passed away on 9 April 2011 after years of suffering from kidney disease. I wish her soul a happy and peaceful life in the world above. I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Jeroen de Kloet. Jeroen took risks inviting me, a candidate with no media studies background, to join his research team of the Beijing Olympics studies in 2009. His patient guidance and wise advice have been of great value for me; his encouragements have helped me defeat the nihilism inflicting many PhD candidates; and his generous and numerous helps in the daily life have made my life a lot easier in Holland. To me, Jeroen is the best supervisor I could expect for my PhD candidacy. I am deeply grateful to my promoter, Professor Josè van Dijck. Josè is a very caring supervisor. She has always been tolerant to my delays in writing, and has encouraged me to probe deeper into my project. She carefully reviewed every sentence of my dissertation and gave me constructive and detailed advices. I have learned a lot from her broad knowledge and critical thinking, and I hope one day I could be as academically productive as her. I am also greatly indebted to Professor Stefan Landsberger. Stefan has been encouraging and supportive since the first day I enrolled in UvA. He also reviewed the drafts of all the chapters, and has provided insightful, critical, and constructive remarks for revision. Meanwhile, I wish to take this V opportunity to thank Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) and International Institute for Asian Studies (in particular, the former depute director Manon Osseweijer and former director Max Sparreboom) for the financial support of my PhD project. Pál Nyíri is an intriguing teacher and a nicest friend. I benefit a lot from the numerous discussions with him. Matthew Chew has been a long-term friend and we have co-worked for years. I am deeply indebted to him for his inspirations and help in my research. Susan Brownell provided valuable critiques to chapter three, and I have also learned a lot from the discussions with her on the overall Beijing Olympics studies and China studies. Yuezhi Zhao gave me important advice about Chinese media studies. Nick Couldry generously sent me his unpublished essays and PowerPoint slides on the logics of spectacle, which is very helpful in my writing of chapter two.