Abstract
This chapter explores outsourced Chinese soft power in the realm of online digital media. Whereas the traditional consumption of television series on a television set is on the shrink, many, particularly young people, now watch television series on mobile devices. Against this backdrop, this chapter asks and examines how digital media and platforms have popularly emerged as new ways of outsourcing Chinese soft power in a virtually transnational soft power field, and created “virtual capital,” a form of capital created in cyberspace and through online platforms. While Korean and Japanese viewers will look for “free” virtual capital—at no cost and uncensored in their countries—they often instead encounter the censored and manufactured virtual capital produced in television series. As such, using a similar set of virtual capitalized television series, locals and foreigners in the importing countries operate a pathway/strategy that diverges at the margins from the “traditional” outsourced Chinese soft power in a transnational soft power field.
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Notes
- 1.
CM29, interview with a Chinese media practitioner, June 16, 2012, Hong Kong; CM37, interview with a Singaporean media practitioner, October 10, 2014, Singapore.
- 2.
In June 2014, China had 632 million netizens with a 46.9 percent penetration rate (CNNIC 2014). Within two years, the country’s Internet penetration rate increased to 50 percent.
- 3.
- 4.
For the danmaku system, please see Liu et al. (2016).
- 5.
KM1, interview with a South Korean media practitioner, December 20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea; April 2, 2017, Seoul, South Korea.
- 6.
KV20, interview with a South Korean respondent, December 11, 2011, Seoul, South Korea. Her second foreign language during her high school years was Chinese language.
- 7.
KV13, interview with a South Korean respondent, December 8, 2011, Seoul, South Korea.
- 8.
MJBox (n.d.). http://cafe.naver.com/mjbox/497218 (Accessed August 1, 2017).
- 9.
CDZM Box (n.d.). http://cafe.naver.com/cdzm (Accessed August 1, 2017).
- 10.
KV38, interview with a South Korean respondent, December 21, 2011, Seoul, South Korea.
- 11.
JV14, interview with a Japanese respondent, April 8, 2012, Tokyo, Japan.
- 12.
JV58, interview with a South Korean respondent, May 24, 2012, Tokyo, Japan.
- 13.
KV67, interview with a South Korean respondent, June 9, 2012, Seoul, South Korea.
- 14.
KV88, interview with a South Korean respondent, November 29, 2013, Seoul, South Korea.
- 15.
KV63, interview with a South Korean respondent, June 7, 2012, Seoul, South Korea.
- 16.
KV39, interview with a South Korean respondent, December 21, 2011, Seoul, South Korea.
- 17.
KV46, interview with a South Korean respondent, January 10, 2012, Seoul, South Korea.
- 18.
KV40, interview with a South Korean respondent, December 21, 2011, Seoul, South Korea.
- 19.
KV41, interview with a South Korean respondent, December 21, 2011, Seoul, South Korea.
- 20.
KV43, interview with a South Korean respondent, December 24, 2011, Seoul, South Korea.
- 21.
KV45, interview with a South Korean respondent, January 2, 2012, Seoul, South Korea.
- 22.
KV88, interview with a South Korean respondent, November 29, 2013, Seoul, South Korea.
- 23.
KV71, Interview with a South Korean respondent, June 28, 2012, Seoul, South Korea.
- 24.
KV74, Interview with a South Korean respondent, June 29, 2012, Seoul, South Korea.
- 25.
The Ministry’s name has changed to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology [Zhonghuarenmingongheguo gongye he xinxihuabu]. The website is http://www.miit.gov.cn/.
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Lee, C.S. (2018). Seeking Virtual Capital Through Online Media in the Digital Age. In: Soft Power Made in China. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93115-9_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93115-9_7
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