Chinese Television between Propaganda and Entertainment: Socialist Traditions, Marketisation and Popular TV Dramas, 1992-2017 by Yingzi WANG School of Social Sciences and Humanities A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University March 2019 © Yingzi WANG (2019) Abstract The ‘reform and opening’ policy initiated since 1978 has profoundly changed the operation and function of Chinese television. Following the accelerated market reforms from 1992, the production of Chinese TV programmes has become increasingly driven by ratings and oriented towards popular entertainment. Within this context, this project aims to examine how Chinese television has evolved over recent decades in response to wider political, economic and cultural changes in China, with a focus on prime-time television dramas broadcast between 1992 and 2017. It situates the analysis of TV dramas within the spectrum of two poles – propaganda and entertainment, aiming to explore how these TV programmes have continued to serve the propaganda imperatives of the Party-state, while at the same time responding to audience demands regarding entertainment. In order to map the changes and continuities exemplified by Chinese TV dramas, this project has adopted a mixed-method approach. This approach includes a systematic quantitative analysis to delineate long-term trends, and four qualitative case studies to establish a more thorough understanding of the detailed transformation in Chinese television. The thesis demonstrates that while Chinese television has become increasingly driven by commercial values that prioritise audience interests and popular elements, television entertainment in China still needs to align with official ideological lines. In the meantime, varying degrees of political supervision have been identified from different levels of TV stations, and the Party- state has actively engaged in promoting its own agenda through Chinese television entertainment. These have shown an increasingly complex picture of socialist television in the new era. In these ways, this project sheds light on the interplay between political propaganda and commercial trends within the Chinese television system over the past two decades and a half. It is intended to contribute to existing studies on the relationship between propaganda and popular entertainment, and to the analyses of propaganda in television drama. It would also facilitate a systematic understanding of socialist television contexts, bridging the east-west divide on the perceptions of contemporary socialist television culture. i Acknowledgments I am indebted to many people who helped and supported me in my PhD journey. First, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all my supervisors in the past four years. Professor Sabina Mihelj, who supervised me during the first year, has inspired me to explore the common features of socialist television in different political and economic contexts. Dr. Thoralf Klein has been extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of Chinese history and displayed incredible patience in offering suggestions and comments. Professor David Deacon has been a true ‘cheerleader’ whenever I felt a lack of confidence in writing, and his academic insights prompted a deep consideration of the theoretical grounding of this thesis in relation to the body of political communication literature. I would not have completed my PhD without their careful guidance and sustained encouragement throughout the four years. Secondly, I would like to extend my gratitude to all the staff members of the CMSPS at School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Among them, I am particularly indebted to Dominic Wring, Simone Natale, Alena Pfoser, Thomas Thurnell-Read, Deirdre Lombard, as well as to our warm-hearted Technician, Peter Beaman. The help of these people provided a wonderfully welcoming environment in which I could make constant progress. Apart from them, I have also benefited from numerous discussions with my fellow PhD colleagues. They were always there, listening to my complaints and sharing useful advice with me. Special thanks are likewise given to them. Meanwhile, I could not have completed this research project without the continued support and deep understanding from my family. My parents respect every decision I made, and I am so proud of them. I am also indebted to my husband, Jing Wang. He has been a loving and supportive person, actively helping me become a professional and better researcher. I learned a great deal from him; without him I might not have the courage to pursue a doctoral degree in the first place. Last but not least, I would like to thank Loughborough Doctoral College for generously offering me a studentship which kept me going after obtaining the master’s degree. It has been a wonderful and unforgettable experience studying at Loughborough University, from which I have profited a lot and will continue to benefit immeasurably in the future. In sum, studying for a PhD was never an easy task; it would have been a distant dream without all these kind people and amazing institutional support. ii Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………i Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………...ii Contents………………………………………………………………………….……………………iii List of figures and tables…………………………………………………………………………….vi List of diagrams……………………………………………………………………………………..viii Chapter 1. Introduction: Chinese Television, State Control and Market Reforms……………………………………..1 1.1 Chinese television in a ‘tug of war’ between state power and market forces……..2 1.2 Breaking the dichotomy: socialist TV, continuities and global relevance………….4 1.3 Structure of this thesis…………………………………………………………………..8 Chapter 2. Theoretical Framework: Socialist Television between Propaganda and Entertainment……………………………11 2.1 De-westernising socialist media studies…………………………………………….12 2.2 Understanding socialist television……………………………………………………16 2.3 Communist propaganda and television……………………………………………...19 2.4 Entertainment, television and politics ………………………………………………..23 2.5 Entertainment as propaganda: from wartime film to socialist TV drama……….…27 2.6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………30 Chapter 3. Research Context: The Changing Landscape of Chinese Television in the Reform Era……………………..32 3.1 The shifting foci of Party propaganda and Chinese television…………………….32 3.1.1 Class struggle in the pre-reform era…………………………………………..34 3.1.2 Short-term relaxation of control in the 1980s…………………………………34 3.1.3 Advancing the market economy and nationalism in the 1990s…………….35 3.1.4 Building a harmonious society as the remedy to ease social problems…..37 3.1.5 Tightened media control to promote the ‘Chinese dream’ in the 2010s…..38 3.1.6 De-politicisation of Chinese television?.......................................................39 3.2 Market reform and the evolution of Chinese television industry…………………..40 3.2.1 Industrial development of Chinese television in the reform era…………….40 3.2.2 The reconciliation between political supervision and commercial interest..45 3.3 Making the mainstream in the era of popular culture………………………………48 iii 3.3.1 The formation of popular culture in China…………………………………….48 3.3.2 The political significance of Chinese television entertainment……………..50 3.4 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………53 Chapter 4. Methodological Approach: Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses of Chinese TV Dramas…………………………….55 4.1 Researching Chinese TV dramas: a politically significant genre…………………56 4.2 Quantitative content analysis…………………………………………………………58 4.2.1 Sampling strategies……………………………………………………………..58 4.2.2 Units of analysis…………………………………………………………………59 4.2.3 Coding scheme………………………………………………………………….60 4.3 Qualitative case studies……………………………………………………………….62 4.3.1 Case selection…………………………………………………………………...62 4.3.2 Analytical procedures…………………………………………………………...65 4.4 Conclusion: strengths and limitations of mixed-methods research………………67 Chapter 5. Revolution and Love: Two Prominent Themes on Prime-time Chinese Television………………………………68 5.1 CCTV-1 VS Hunan TV: political, economic positions and programming………..68 5.1.1 CCTV-1: a political apparatus and government enterprise…………………68 5.1.2 Hunan TV: a ‘real commercial’ broadcasting system……………………….70 5.2 Sampling, coding and intercoder reliability………………………………………….72 5.3 Key findings of the content analysis…………………………………………………74 5.3.1 Distribution of different themes………………………………………………...74 5.3.2 Annual patterns of different themes…………………………………………..76 5.4 Discussion: differences and similarities between CCTV-1 and Hunan TV……...79 5.5 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………83 Chapter 6. Patriotism, Nationalism and Historical Figures: Revolutionary Dramas in CCTV-1………………………………………………………………85 6.1 The revolutionary discourse and Chinese TV drama………………………………86 6.2 War of China’s Fate: ‘Only the CCP can save China’……………………………...90 6.3 Eighth Route Army: the ‘mass line’ as the key strategy to win the war…………94 6.4 On the Taihang Mountains: uniting all patriotic forces and building a strong wartime base………………………………………………………………………………..98 6.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….104 iv Chapter 7. Omnipotent Heroes and Sexy Spies: Popular Representations of the Revolutionary Past in Hunan TV………………………..106 7.1 Red Classics and spy dramas………………………………………………………106 7.2 Struggles in an Ancient City: heroes, traitors and the restrained love………….110 7.3 The Disguiser: omnipotent communist heroes and the femme fatale………….116