Global Media and Communication 2007 Hu Zhengrong 335 9

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DOI: 10.1177/17427665070030030404

2007 3: 335Global Media and CommunicationHu Zhengrong

The Chinese model and paradigm of media studies

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Takahashi, T. (2003) Media, Audience Activity and Everyday Life The Case of

Japanese Engagement with Media and ICT. Doctoral Dissertation. The London

School of Economics and Political Science, University of London.

Takahashi, T. (forthcoming) Japanese Young People, Media and Everyday Life:

Towards the de-Westernizing of Media Studies, in S. Livingstone and K. Drotner

(eds)International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. London: Sage.

The Chinese model and paradigm of media studies

Hu Zhengrong

Communication University of China, Beijing, China

[email protected]

Uniqueness of the Chinese model

Since the 1900s, Chinese history has been marked by an incessant quest

for modernization, championed since 1949 by the Communist Party of

China. In the 1980s, the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping launched

market reform in China and its leadership has adopted, as the most

effective Western model of modernization, the combination of a marketeconomy and a constitutional democracy. The last 30 years have

witnessed the successful transition from a rigid planned economy to a

vibrant market one, but politically, the transition to a democracy is slow

and has sometimes stalled. At a societal level, the highly centralized

social system is gradually disintegrating, while Chinese society is

becoming increasingly diversified and stratified. All these are

characteristics of a unique Chinese model.

The tenet for the Chinese economy in the past three decades has

been capitalism and economic liberalism. When China started the

reform, the state jump-started a massive campaign of privatization. Most

of the former state-owned enterprises were either sold or listed in the

stock market. Although the state is still in control of some key

industries, private investment has been welcomed in most economic

sectors. However, the government has even withdrawn from the public

sector, which was supposed to be the responsibility of the government.

Tens of thousands of workers were laid off and forgotten; farmers were

kicked out of the way of urban development without decent

compensation; market forces have dominated education and housing;

Internationalizing media studies 3 3 5

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and the health care system is on the brink of collapse. People have

started joking that education, health care and housing are the three new

big mountains on the back of ordinary Chinese people.

The Cultural Revolution was a watershed in the history of the Peoples

Republic of China. During the upheaval, Chairman Mao smashed what

he had nurtured a dream of a communist utopia and a large part of

the population became disillusioned. But communism is still the official

ideology and its status in the Chinese constitution is unshakable. How-

ever, the government needs some new glue to reunite the people. That is

pragmatism. Deng Xiaoping once said, The good cat is the one who can

catch the mouse, be it white or black. This famous saying officially

breached the ideological line and hailed the function of the market

economy in economic development. The CPC, and the political system

under its control, are harnessing pragmatism to strengthen its control of

society, while fending off any potential challenges to its power.

In the field of culture, Confucianism has re-emerged as a contributor

to a harmonious society, and traditional values are once again

promoted by the government. Some local governments have even

authorized a standard Confucius Statue. Meanwhile, Chinese culture is

becoming more diversified, reflecting an increasingly stratified and

diverse society. In the media industries a more diverse audience leads to

diversification in programming. Firstly, programme genres and formats

are becoming more varied: there are not only news and commentaries inChina, but game shows, talk shows, and reality TV, etc. Secondly, the

content is diversified: some 20 years ago, political content was dominant

today, there is more and more entertainment on Chinese media.

The distinctive nature of the Chinese media system

The Chinese media system has three main distinct characteristics:

Single ownership, dual system. Chinas media are currently still state-

owned. With regard to property, all media in China are state

property, but in practice some areas of the media industries, such as

content production and advertising, are open to private capital. The

aims of a typical media operation are to compete and make profit,

on the one hand, and, on the other, to implement the will of the

party, with the financial gains from the market. Although private

investment is allowed, the government always has the final say.

However, the drawbacks of this model have become more and more

obvious. For example, the media may lease its power to interest

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groups. The government and the commercial entities may also use

media to infringe upon the public interests because the media are

part of the government and are not independent.

The contradictory role of media in society. In China, the media are pre-

eminently political propaganda machines, then they are competitors

in the media marketplace and lastly they are the provider of a public

service. The Chinese media actually have roles that would be

separate in state-owned, commercial and public-owned media

systems. Since the market reforms, the Chinese media landscape has

dramatically changed: as a result some media are becoming more

mainstream, while others are being marginalized. When looking at

financial benefits, political objectives are sometimes on a collision

course with commercial reality. In recent years, local media like

Hunan TV and Jiangsu TV have become stronger and have started to

challenge the monopoly of China Central Television.

Uncertainty in media policy and media institutions. The media in China

are neither companies nor corporations, but government organ-

izations. The government manages the media on behalf of the

Communist Party. Kenneth Liberthal describes Chinese political

governance as a matrix muddle (Liberthal, 2004), which features

both vertical and horizontal structures (see Figure 1).

With economic reform, central media and media in the coastal areas

are getting more resources, while other media can barely make ends

meet, and the government is still executing a highly centralized and

monolithic policy despite the diversified media landscape nationwide.

Chinas transition is still moving on, and the transformation of the


Figure 1

Media



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political system, which is closely related to media, still has an uncertain

future. So how should we evaluate the role of media? Currently, all

media are state property; could we expect a breakthrough in media

ownership, say in burgeoning private media organizations? These

questions need to be answered.

Obstacles for the Chinese paradigm of media studies

In the Chinese model, there are always situations that established

paradigms cannot fully explain. The Anglo-American paradigm of media

studies is not always compatible with Chinese social and media reality.

At a conceptual level, concepts like liberalism, conservatism, political

right, middle and left, public interests, democracy, rights, freedom and

individualism are very different from a Chinese perspective. In his book

China Shakes the WorldJames Kynge states, China owes its emergence as

a global power to the free market system pioneered by the US, but has

very different values from those in most countries that have grown up

under the Pax Americana (Kynge, 2006). Politically, China has more

than 2000 years of imperial history, and a highly centralized nation state

is the common form of the Chinese nation. Since the Han dynasty,

every emperor attached great importance to the teachings of Confucius.

For the ruling class, Confucianism is a set convenient philosophy that

can be used to maintain social stability, emphasizing family values,obedience and moral discipline. There is also a long tradition of patri-

archic politics. Even in the ordinary Chinese family today, the opinions

of senior members are always of significant influence and Chinese

people have an integrated view of world, state and family. They cherish

their tradition of collectivism, as opposed to individualism.

According to the Western experience, the market economy cannot

exist without democracy, but in the last two decades, the Chinese

government has managed to develop a market economy without

democracy, and Chinese society on the whole is stable. Chinas unique

historical and cultural background means that established Western

paradigms are not fully applicable to the Chinese reality and thus a

Chinese paradigm is necessary for researchers to conduct media studies.

In the transformation of global political and media institutions, it is

clear that there is a clash of paradigms, reflecting different cultural

contexts. Chris Patten said, For any liberal pluralist the comparative

performances of India and China in the future will be a test of the

correctness of our political philosophy (Patten, 2006). Which direction

will China head for? We shall wait and see.

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Chinese scholars never stop their efforts to learn from the West; at

the same time Chinese academia is attempting to build up Chinese

paradigms. Since the late Qing dynasty, intellectuals have been

instrumental in introducing Western knowledge and technology to this

ancient nation. Most of the social science and humanities disciplines in

modern China have been imported from the West: disciplines such as

sociology, psychology, political science, economics, etc. Even the source

of the ideology of China Marxism is the brainchild of a German and

Chairman Mao is renowned for localizing the theory of Marxism into

the Chinese political system. After that, Deng Xiaoping introduced

capitalism to the socialist state to develop its economy. Chinese

communication scholars have also recognized the necessity for a

Chinese paradigm to work in parallel with its Western counterpart in a

unique Chinese context.

The purpose of establishing a Chinese paradigm is not to abandon

Western concepts because they do apply to common characteristics of

human society, but in order to use Chinese concepts and methods to

understand and explain Chinese realities. Traditional Chinese

approaches, such as macro thinking and induction need to be further

developed in Chinese media studies and it is also clear to Chinese

communication scholars that understanding different cultures should

also promote diversity in communication research.

References

Kynge, James (2006) China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation . London:

Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Liberthal, Kenneth (2004) Governing China, From Revolution through Reform. Norton,

W.W, & Company Inc.

Patten, Chris (2006) Chinese Puzzle. URL (consulted May 2006): http://news.ft.com/

cms/s/e9275bec-bfba-11da-939f-0000779e2340.html.


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