WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Creating Mediated Cosmopolitanism? Global Media Flows and the Beijing Youth Tang, T. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Miss Tiankai Tang, 2018. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] Creating Mediated Cosmopolitanism? Global Media Flows and the Beijing Youth TIANKAI TANG A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2018 Abstract This thesis aims to explore how the Chinese urban young generation experience different forms of cultural cosmopolitanism through the consumption of growing flows of de- territorialized media products – mainly, but not solely, US-led Western media products, including films and television programmes. It also examines how this generation is negotiating hybrid identities from the perspective of cultural cosmopolitanism, given their strong Chinese cultural influences and constant exposure and consumption of Western media products. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the research is designed to be an exploratory, though pioneering work, which also seeks a possible explanation as to what contributes to cultural cosmopolitanism. Drawing on a range of historical sources, the thesis throws light on the causes of cosmopolitanism within the Chinese context and relates it to stability and change in the social environment in China. The empirical part of the research mainly draws from qualitative focus groups and in-depth interviews with 45 Beijing youths, aged between 18 and 30 years, based on the criteria of age, gender, occupation, class, local/non-local and overseas experience. According to the analysis of the data thus collected, the processes that Chinese urban youth engage in while consuming foreign media products are far more complicated than what might be explained as the consequences of globalization. They show different degrees of openness towards foreign - mainly US-led Western media – products and their main motives for consuming these are entertainment, and the fact that such media content is considered of better quality than what is available domestically. During the viewing of such content, it was observed that the youths more or less experience the process of ‘dialogic imagination’. The thesis argues that Chinese urban youth experience a unique form of cosmopolitanism, characterized by self-centered and strategic engagement with foreign media products, consistent with a pattern of openness that can be seen throughout Chinese history. Although cosmopolitan consciousness in a moral sense exists temporarily during the viewing of foreign media products, the thesis suggests, the consumption of such media has rather limited influence and therefore cannot lead to the kind of cosmopolitanism celebrated in Western discourses. 1 Contents Abstract 1 List of tables and figures 5 Acknowledgements 6 Author’s declaration 8 Introduction 9 Background and context of the research 9 The aims of the research and original contribution to knowledge 12 Outline of the thesis 16 Chapter 1 Literature Review 20 1.1 The rise of contemporary cosmopolitanism 20 1.2.1 Issues in cosmopolitanism studies in cultural dimension 22 1.2.2 Research trends 28 1.3 Cosmopolitanism in cultural dimension 29 1.4 The relationship between globalization and cosmopolitanism 36 1.5 Issues of attachment 41 1.6 Media and cosmopolitan at home 42 1.6.1 Global media flows 43 1.6.2 Media use and reception 45 1.6.3 A Brazilian empirical study 48 1.6.4 Chinese audiences 49 Chapter 2 Historical context of Chinese cultural cosmopolitanism 54 Part 1 Cosmopolitanism and Confucian China 55 2.1.1 A Chinese worldview 55 2.1.2 Chinese world order – Tianxia, Sinocentrism and Law of Heaven 57 2.1.3 Hua-Yi distinction 61 Part 2 China’s openness to other cultures 65 2.2.1 Economically open to the other 66 2.2.2 Chinese cultural self-confidence and self-enclosed nature 67 2.2.2.1 Two modes of Sinocentrism-led Tianxia 68 2.2.3 Attitudes towards other civilizations entering into ancient China 69 2.2.3.1 Social change – society tends to be open 71 Part 3 Open to the West 73 2.3.1 Open to the ‘West Territory’ – Buddhism 74 2.3.2 Open to the West – the collapse of Sinocentrism 75 2.3.2.1 Relocating China’s place in the world 78 2.3.2.2 The collapse of Sinocentrism 80 2 2.3.3 Rise and fall of Neo-Sinocentrism in new China 84 2.3.3.1 Socialist cosmopolitanism and the rise of Neo-Sinocentrism 84 2.3.3.2 The fall of Neo-Sinocentrism and the attitudes towards the West in 1980s 85 Chapter 3 Methodology 91 3.1.1 A reflexive methodology 93 3.1.2.1 ‘The Self’ and ‘the Other’ in Chinese studies 94 3.1.2.2 Sources 97 3.2 Philosophical stance of the research: Ontology and epistemology 98 3.2.1 Critical realism 99 3.2.2 Epistemological pluralism and interdisciplinary research 102 3.2.3 Engaging with history 104 3.3 Selected method for data collection: Focus group 107 3.3.1 Preparation stage 108 3.3.1.1 Familiarization with relevant knowledge 108 3.3.1.2 Familiarization with the cultural context of the foreign media products 109 3.3.2 Fieldwork 109 3.3.2.1 Pilot studies 109 3.3.3 Focus groups 110 3.3.3.1 Sampling 110 3.3.4 Observations and reflection on the fieldwork 112 3.3.4.1 Overall group dynamics 112 3.3.5 Post-interview stage 116 3.3.5.1 Consent, transcription and ethics 116 3.3.5.2 Qualitative analytic method: Thematic analysis 117 Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis I: Use of foreign media products by Beijing youth 120 4.1 What do you mean by ‘Foreign Country’ 120 4.2 Frequency of viewing 124 4.3 Preference for the domestic or international content? 124 4.4 Preference by countries /regions 133 4.5 Motives and reasons 142 4.6 Channels for accessing foreign media products 158 Chapter 5 Findings and Analysis II: Cosmopolitan experience during consumption of foreign media 163 5.1 Recognition that there is ‘no Others’ 163 5.2 Recognition of difference 166 5.3 Audience reception: ‘Dialogic imagination’ and cosmopolitanism 175 5.3.1 Preferred reading 176 5.3.2 Negotiated reading 178 5.3.3 Oppositional reading 180 5.3.4 Changes in readings 186 5.4 The Degree of attachment to the local and local culture 201 3 5.5 Difference between the mediated experience and the real experience 216 Chapter 6 Findings and Analysis III: Social change, global media and cosmopolitanism with Chinese characteristics 220 6.1 Effect on audience post-consumption 220 6.2 Encounter with foreigners in everyday life 227 6.3 Long-term impact of foreign media products 231 6.4 Channels for imagining the world 234 6.5 Global media, social change and cosmopolitanism as strategies for survival 236 6.6 A greater level of cultural cosmopolitanism? 240 Chapter 7 Conclusion 242 7.1 Key findings 242 7.2 Questions for further investigation 245 7.3 Contribution and significance of research 248 Bibliography 252 Appendix: Timeline of Chinese dynasties and major historical events in the thesis 280 4 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1 Domains of reality Table 3.2 Focus group composition Table 4.1 Participants’ demographic information and their first reaction to ‘foreign country’ Table 4.2 Number of times a country mentioned Table 4.3 Beijing youth preference for television and dramas, by domestic or international Table 4.4.a Beijing youth preference for international television and dramas, by countries/regions Table 4.4.b Beijing youth preference for international television and dramas, by countries/regions Table 4.5 Motives and reasons for choosing foreign cultural/media products Table 4.6 The channels participants choose for consumption Table 5.1 ‘No Others’ and ‘Difference’ Table. 5.3 Short-run effects (User’s states or their thoughts during consumption) Table 5. 4 Degree of detachment/attachment to local culture Table 5.5 Differences between the mediated experience and real experience Table 6.1.a Using foreign media products as a reference Table 6.1.b Post-consumption Table 6.2 Frequency of two-way communication with foreigners in everyday life Table 6.3 Long-term impact of foreign media on daily life Table 6.4 Channels through which young people imagine the world Figure 3.1 Domains of reality Figure 4.1 Proportion of countries mentioned Figure 4.2 Frequency of country/region mentioned as proportion 5 Acknowledgements This PhD thesis would not have been completed without the advice and support of many people. It is a great pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible. First, and foremost, I owe my deepest gratitude to my Director of Studies, Professor Daya Kishan Thussu. I found it very difficult at times to focus on my studies and manage my time but over the four years, Professor Thussu showed great patience and support, not only in guiding my thesis and giving advice but also helping me to improve my use of English in both writing and speaking. He contributed in many discussions to the shape of this thesis.