Global Television Formats in the People’s Republic of China: Popular Culture, Identity and the ‘Mongolian Cow Sour Yoghurt Super Girls Contest’. University of New South Wales 26th November 2007 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Zhu First name: Xi Wen Other name/s: Serena Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: Masters of Arts by Research School: English, Media and Performing Arts Faculty: Arts and Social Science Title: Global Television Formats in the People’s Republic of China: Popular Culture, Identity and the ‘Mongolian Cow Sour Yoghurt Super Girls Contest’. Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This thesis analyses the television program known as ‘Super Girls’, which aired on Hunan Satellite Television from 2004-2006 in the Peoples’ Republic of China. In the West, this program is sometimes referred to as ‘Chinese Idol’ because of its similarities to the globally popular television format, ‘Idol’. Although ‘Super Girls’ shares many similarities with ‘Idol’ there are also equally important differences. This thesis examines these differences as a way of theorising the how the program negotiates the localisation of a Western television format. First, the program is placed in the broader context of the increased liberalisation and commercialisation of the Chinese television industry. Secondly, the thesis analyses the concept of format television and presents the logic behind the global shift toward producing this type of programming. Next, specific aspects of Super Girls are analysed in detail to bring out how the program functioned culturally in the context of China. These aspects of Super Girls include, the way the program represents the changing role and potential of television from the PRC to contribute to negotiations on Chinese identity that take place among the various symbolic universes of Cultural China, including the global Chinese Diaspora. The thesis also explores the nature of the celebrities produced by the contest through isolating their meaning and significance within the Chinese context. The thesis argues that the contest winners are celebrated for their individuality and come to stand for the rise of ‘ordinary power’. The thesis also examines the ways in which Super Girls embraces its audience through new modes of address and offering new types of agency for its audience. As a result, Super Girls offers insight into how Chinese culture is now shaped by a rise of ‘ordinary empowerment’ where the bottom-up cultures are hybridised with the traditional high culture in television broadcasting. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………..……………… ……….……………………...…….… Signature Witness Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS List of Content Acknowledgements p.3 Chinese television p.4-17 Format television p.18-29 The ‘Idol’ p.30-54 Greater China p.55-62 Super Girls, Super Star p.63-84 Super Girls and Fan Interaction p.85-102 Conclusion p.103-105 References p.106-114 2 Acknowledgements I would just like to say thank you to my parents and my grandma for all the support they gave me, and Scott Shaner for everything, you are the best Supervisor. I just couldn’t have done this without you guys. Thank you! 3 1. Chinese Television China is a country with autocratic leadership. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in order to maintain its political power has traditionally adopted many closed policies, and almost every aspect of life has been controlled, especially the media. Hence it is unsurprising that in the eyes of most western countries China is still seen to be a closed and controlled environment. However, times are changing. In this thesis, I will argue that although the Chinese media market is more controlled than in most western nations, contemporary China is relatively more open than most people think it is. It is evident that along with the development of global capitalism, Chinese media industries are undergoing rapid innovations. Likewise, in China, because of its past the impact of globalisation is even more obvious than it is in most of the western nations. China has now adopted many neo-liberal economic policies and approaches that emphasise the freeing up of market forces in many of the country’s developmental policies. The effects of this are nowhere more apparent than in China’s media industries. In this thesis, I will examine how these forces play themselves out in the context of China’s media. In particular, I will analyse the case of a television program known as Super Girls (Chaoji nu-sheng). Super Girls is sometimes referred to, in the West, as ‘Chinese Idol’ because of its resemblance to the well known global television format, ‘Idol.’ Although Super Girls seems only loosely based on the Idol format, its emergence, combined with the hysteria that surrounded the program represents a signal of China’s entry into the global transnational media market. It can be stated that although politically China remains autocratic, to a certain extent its media environment has adopted its own agenda, particularly on the provincial level. In general I argue Chinese television is now shaped by the agendas of commercialisation, globalisation and decentralisation that are creating a more competitive structure amongst the various levels of Chinese media (Weber 2000). As a result the problem the Chinese government faces is to balance the discourse of market competition with the discourses of control and propaganda (Weber 2000). The national government in my opinion is forced 4 to liberalise the media market in the face of post WTO forces. There are no signs of the Chinese government’s willingness to give up its control in mass media on the national level. Thus China’s media in Lee’s words can be viewed as being characterised by ‘commercialisation without independence’ and enjoying ‘bird-caged press freedom’” (Lee 2000, p.10). I argue the Chinese government tolerated forces of commercialisation, for instance they allowed the development of entertainment programs. Yet this tolerance is limited to the extent that the government’s ultimate control over the media industry is not threatened. China and Neo-Liberalism There is a general belief that ‘globalisation’ forces virtually all countries of the world to embrace the world market if they wish to achieve economic development (Lee 2000). And it is due to the drive for economic development, China chooses to liberalise its markets. One of the most profound changes of the Chinese market is its change towards neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism has evolved over the past three decades; it can be identified as “a range of economic, social and related political policies that emphasises the market, fiscal discipline, trade, investment and financial liberalisation, deregulation, decentralisation, privatisation and a reduced role for the state” (Hewison & Robison 2006, p.ix). Neo-liberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practice that proposes human well-being can be advanced by the ideas of free markets and trade and state institutions should appropriate the practice of the market (Thorsen & Lie 2006). Thus it can be said that the essence of neo-liberalism in relation to international commerce is its idea that the economic growth will be most rapid when the movement of goods, services and capital are free from government regulation. I argue in China the development of neo-liberalism overlaps with China’s opening up to accept global capitalism trends and neo-liberalism has developed away from a political ideology. Rather it has become a trend in economic policies. As a consequence, in the Chinese context, neo-liberalism is understood and defined as a set of ideas of how the 5 relationship between the state and its external environment, in particular the economic environment ought to be organised rather than a complete political ideology. Neo- liberalism in China affects the economic policies and has promoted the expansion of markets into new areas of the economy. One of these areas is the media sector. The Chinese media have increasingly been liberalised and subjected to global forces, based on the spread of marketisation over the past decade. This change is vital because without the freeing up of Chinese media market, format television will not exist in China. In general China’s neo-liberalism is distinct from the western form. I argue neo- liberalism in China is selective depending on what the government believes is appropriate. Hewison and Robison (2006) states China’s market reform contains the two key pillars of IMF and World Bank’s Neo-liberal models, which is market liberalisation and privatisation. However the forces of neo-liberalism are distinct and mediated by the CCP (Hewison & Robison 2006).