Mapping Media in China is the first book-length study that goes below the ‘national’ scale to focus on the rich diversity of media in China from local, provincial and regional angles. China’s media has played a crucial role in shaping and directing the country’s social and cultural changes, and whilst these shifts have often been discussed as a single and coherent phenomenon, this ignores the vast array of local and regional variations within the country’s borders.

This book explores media as both a reflection of the diversity within China and as an active agent behind these growing differences. It examines the role of media in shaping regional, provincial and local identities through the prism of media economics and technology, media practices, audiences, as well as media discourses. The book covers a wide range of themes, including civil society, political resistance, state power and the production and consumption of place-specific memory and imagination.

With contributions from around the world, including original ethnographic material from scholars based in China, Mapping Media in China is an original book which spans a broad range of disciplines. It will be invaluable to both students and scholars of Chinese and Asian studies, media and communication studies, geography, anthropology and cultural studies.

Contents

Part 1: Methodologies and Ffameworks Localizing Chinese Media: An Introduction

Wanning Sun and Jenny Chio 1. Localizing Chinese Media: A Geographic Turn in Media and Communication Research Wanning Sun Part 2: Local Politics: Contesting the Centre 2. Provincial Papers, National Power: The Scaling up of the Nanfang Daily Media Group Yuezhi Zhao and Guoxin Xing 3. Dialects and Local Media: The Cases of Kunming and Yunnan TV Zhenzhi Guo 4. Top-Down Policies versus Grassroots Resistance: The Management of Illegal Satellite Dishes in Chinese Villages Wusan Sun, translated by John Alexander Part 3: Rural Cultures: Grassrotices 5. ‘Village Videos’ and the Visual Mainstream in Rural, Ethnic Guizhou Jenny Chio 6. ‘Family’ vs. ‘State’ in Media Ritual: Fieldwork in an Ethnic Minority Village in Yunnan Province Jianbin Guo, translated by Jingjing Chen Part 4: Regional Formations: Creative Responses to Globalization 7. Shanzhaiji and the Transformation of the Local Mediascape in Shenzhen Cara Wallis and Jack Qiu 8. Contemporary Art and Mediatization in Brand PRD™ Carolyn Cartier 9. Sliding Scales: The Mediated Lives of Miao Pop Singer A You Duo Louisa Schein Part 5: Rescaling Place: Heritage and Belonging 10. Making an Empty Show of Strength: Media and the Politics of Discernment in Provincial Place Branding Projects Tim Oakes 11. Living Red: Production, Consumption and Local Memory of Revolutionary Culture in Linyi Qian Gong 12. Heritage Struggles and Place-Makings in Zhejiang Province: Local Media, Cross-Regional Media Interactions, and Media Strategies from Below Marina S...