Going with the Flow: Chinese Travel Journalism in Change Jiannu Bao BA, MA Creative Industries Research & Applications Centre Queensland University of Technology Submitted for the Award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Key words: China, travel journalism, popular journalism, Chinese media, official media, negotiated media, flexible media, media representation, market influence, lifestyle change, experience economy, personal expression, Chinese national identity, nationalism, image of China, and social transformation. Abstract The thesis explores the evolution of Chinese travel journalism since 1978, the year China launched its economic reforms and opened to the international community and examines its role in facilitating social changes. Discussion is based on texts from the print, television and online media. Four case studies illustrate how Chinese media are influenced by the state, the market and readerships. The central argument of this thesis is that Chinese travel journalism has established itself as a recognised genre of popular journalism due to rapid growth in tourism along with market-driven reforms. Travel journalism has developed within the official media (the Party press), negotiated media (commercially oriented) and flexible (online) media. These divisions promote a range of information, advice and discussion available to travellers and tourists. In the case of the official media, the information is framed by concerns to regulate; in the case of the negotiated media, there is more scope for commercial promotions; the flexible online media allows non-professional participation. As such, the development of travel journalism reflects the evolution of Chinese media from a propaganda institution to a modernising media industry, and more recently, to a platform for personal expression and alternative voices. The government support for the development of the tourism market has been a strong spur for the growth of travel journalism, and the discourses of Chinese modernisation are carried through the popularisation of travel as a subject in the media. Chinese travel journalism provides advice on social conduct for travellers, both in domestic and international situations, and it influences national self-perceptions and international outlook. Developing in the broader context of social, economic and cultural changes, travel journalism provides a valuable gauge for the study of transformations in Chinese society and Chinese lifestyles. Table of Contents List of Abbreviations I Statement of authorship II Acknowledgements III Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Travel Journalism as a Genre of Popular Journalism 19 Chapter 2 Going with the Flow: Travel Journalism in Change 46 Chapter 3 Media Debate: The Three Gorges Forever? 78 Chapter 4 Welcome to China: Representing China to the Rest of the World 99 Chapter 5 Enjoying Leisure: People on the Move 129 Chapter 6 Experiencing the Other 158 Conclusions Travel Journalism, an Important Site for the Study of Transformations in Contemporary China 192 Appendix 1 List of Interviewees 215 Appendix 2 List of Archive Resources 216 Appendix 3 List of Websites 217 References 218 Abbreviations: ADS Approved Destination Status ATC Australian Tourist Commission BBC British Broadcasting Corporation CCTV China Central Television CITS China International Travel Service CNNIC China Internet Information Network Centre CNR China National Radio CNTA China National Tourism Administration CTS China Travel Service DIY Do-It-Yourself SAPP State Administration of Press and Publications SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SEDZ Special Economic Development Zone SMS Short Message Service UNESCO United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation VFR Visiting Friends and Relatives WHO World Health Organisation WTO World Trade Organisation WTTC World Tourism and Travel Council I Statement of original authorship: The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signature: ______________________________________ Date: __________________________________________ II Acknowledgements This piece of work would be impossible without those who have guided and supported me throughout the last four years. Professor John Hartley, whom I was so luck to meet and know during my one-year research trip to UK, encouraged me to take an academic career after eight years in journalistic profession and inspired me to research on travel journalism. As my principal supervisor for the first year and a half of my PhD, his guidance and support were incomparable. He has continued to provide me whatever help I need during the rest of PhD study since he became an associate supervisor. Dr. Christina Spurgeon has taught me all the basics of doing a PhD both as an associate supervisor from the very beginning of my PhD and a principal supervisor later. She has read every bits of my thesis carefully and has offered suggestions which have helped make many of the arguments much stronger. Dr. Michael Keane is the best ever associate supervisor I could possibly have. I have benefited a great deal from his knowledge of China, his fresh ideas, his patience and his tolerance with different opinions, which have enabled me to learn and improve. Friends and fellow PhD students have also offered their support. I am grateful to my friend Du Juanqing back home in China for her extreme kindness and generosity to look after everything I left there in Beijing and offer me whatever support I need. I am also grateful to Jo Tacchi, who has given me friendship and support since the very beginning of my PhD, and my PhD fellow students Jinna Tay, Callum Gilmour, and Joshua Green who have helped me in different ways. I also owe much to my former colleagues at Xinhua News Agency who helped and supported me during my fieldtrip to China from November 2002 to March 2003. Last but not least, I thank Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre, which offered me a scholarship to cover my tuition fees, and to the Creative Industries faculty for providing me a living allowance during the same period, without which I would not have been able to do a PhD. III Introduction In the past we gathered to watch foreign guests, but now we attract the attention of people in foreign countries while travelling there (Yang 2004). For many Western visitors to China in late 1970s and early 1980s, it was a common experience to be surrounded by crowds of shy, curious and giggling Chinese who followed and watched till the strangers disappeared through some door or into a hotel. This fascination with the unfamiliar visitor was even common in the large metropolitan cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Today Chinese people travel the world: for business, for study, visiting relatives and friends, family reunion, and, more recently, holidays. Many even tour overseas to witness special world events: the annual New Year celebration concert at the Golden Palace in Vienna, Austria, the Olympic Games, and the Soccer World Cups. The fact that Chinese people are now active on the international tourism circuit is testimony to rapid tourism development over the last two and a half decades. Tourism development is a barometer of the political, economic, social and cultural transformations of society. Economic reform and ensuing political liberalisation have transformed China in the last quarter century from a closed, isolated, and controlled society to one in which people have the freedom to travel. In the same period China has transformed from an impoverished country to a rising economic power. Utopian communism, where people were denied access to material comforts, is replaced by a hedonistic consumerism. The lifestyle of hard working, plain living has made way for an ethos of “spending tomorrow’s money to enjoy life today”, as many real estate agencies and auto shows advertise. While material comforts are still the most desired, consumption of new experiences has increased and it has led to the emergence of experience economy in China. All these changes are illustrated in tourism development. 1 Rapid and steady economic growth since 1978, the year China launched economic reforms and opening up programmes, has resulted in great improvement in the living standards of Chinese people. Until the late 1970s the most costly consumer durables a family could own were wrist-watches, sewing machines and bicycles; by the mid- 1980s they were replaced by colour TV sets, refrigerators and washing machines. Personal computers (first known as ‘family computers’ in China), video cameras and compact hi-fi systems took the place of the old ‘major items’ to become the most desired commodities in the early and mid-1990s. By 2000 cars and private houses topped the list of the most sought-after material comforts. The growth in material consumption throughout the years is only one aspect of development. This has been accompanied by the growth of consumption of services and experiences. The increases in disposable income among both rural and urban people inspired the desire for cultural and leisure activities, so much so that many became popular nationwide. Popularity of a certain activity or a wide-spread phenomenon is usually described as ‘Re’ in Chinese, meaning ‘fever’ or ‘heat wave’ in English. In the 1980s, there emerged the ‘reading fever’, ‘photographing fever’,