Abstract
Dramatic changes have occurred in Chinese society over the past three decades. Many of these changes are attributable to the government’s economic reforms presided over, firstly by MAO Zedong’s successor DENG Xiaoping, and following DENG, JIANG Zemin, HU Jintao and XI Jinping. In this chapter, we focus on changes that have led to a revised understanding of culture. According to a Chinese Communist Party definition, informed by historical materialism, culture ‘in a broad sense, refers to the sum total of all the material and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the course of the historical development of society; in a narrow sense, culture refers to ideology and related institutions and organizations’ (Cihai: Sea of Words. Chinese Encyclopedia 1989, p. 1731). However, over the past three decades, the Chinese government has voluntarily relinquished control over many aspects of cultural production in exchange for the potential benefits of cohesion and increased productivity that social liberalization is seen to promote. Inevitably the market, rather than government propaganda, has become the arbiter of people’s cultural tastes (Gerth 2010). It is important to bear in mind, however, that broadening of consumption practices does not necessarily constitute cultural pluralism. Indeed, the extent to which culture is commercializable remains contentious. In the view of conservatives, culture cannot be left to the forces of the market; yet the same conservatives assert that China’s culture should be globally competitive.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barme, G. (1992) ‘The Greying of Chinese Culture’, in K. Hsin-chi and M. Brosseau (eds), China Review (Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press).
Barr, M. (2011) Who’s Afraid of China? The Challenge of Chinese Soft Power (London: Zed Books).
Bell, D. (1989) Zibenzhuyi wenhua maodun (The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism), translated Zhao Yifan (Beijing: Sanlian shudian).
Brugger, W. and Kelly, D. (1990) Chinese Marxism in the Post-Mao Era (California: Stanford University Press).
Chin, Y.C. (2011) ‘Policy Process, Policy Learning and the Role of Provincial Media in China’, Media Culture and Society, 33, 193.
Chu, Y.C. (2013) ‘The Politics of Reception: “Made in China” and Western Critique’, International Journal of Cultural Studies (forthcoming).
Chua, B.H. (2012) Structure, Audience and Soft Power in East Asian Culture (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press).
Cihai (Sea of Words), Shanghai cihai chubanshe, Shanghai, 1989, 1731.
Craik, J. (2007) Re-Visioning Arts and Cultural Policy: Current Impasses and Future Directions (Canberra: ANU Press).
Deng, X.P. (1983) ‘Congratulation Speech at the Fourth Congress of China’s Workers in Literature and Arts’, October 30, 1979, in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, (Hong Kong: Peoples Publishing House and Joint Publishing Co.)
Deng, X.P. (1984), ‘Emancipate the Mind, Seek Truth From Facts and Unite as One in Looking to the Future’ (December 13, 1978), Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (1975–1982) (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press).
Gerth, K. (2010) As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything (New York: Hill and Wang).
Hu, H.L. (2000) ‘National Cultural Security — Policies on the Development of the Cultural Industries in the Face of Economic Globalization (guojia wenhua anquan: jingji quanqiuhua Beijing xia zhongguo wenhua chanye fazhan zhenglun’, Academic Monthly (Xueshu yuekan), (2), 6.
Hu, J.T. (2007) The 16th CPC Central Committee, 2007b. English version of Report to the Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 15, 2007 [online].
Hu, J.T. (2012) Full Text of Hu Jintao’s Report at 18th Party Congress, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/special/18cpcnc/2012-11/17/c_131981259_7.htm Beijing: The Communist Party of China.[http://www.china.org.cn/english/congress/229611.htm], date accessed April 30 2013.
Hu, K. (2006) ‘The Power of Circulation: Digital Technologies and the Online Chinese Fans of Japanese TV Drama’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 6, 71–186.
Hu, S.Q. and Zhang, P.X. (1991) Zhongguo wenhua shi (The History of Chinese Culture) (Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi chubanshe).
Keane, M. (2001) ‘Broadcasting Policy, Creative Compliance and the Myth of Civil Society in China’, Media, Culture and Society, 23, 783–798.
Keane, M. (2007) Created in China: The Great New Leap Forward (London: Routledge).
Keane, M. (2010) ‘Re-imagining China’s Future: Soft Power, Cultural Presence and the East Asian Media Market’, in D. Black, S. Epstein and A. Tokita (eds), Complicated Currents: Media Flows and Soft Power in East Asia (Melbourne: Monash University ePress).
Keane, M. (2010a). ‘Reclaiming China’s Former Soft Power’, Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 42, 50–64.
Keane, M. (2010b) ‘Keeping Up with the Neighbours: China’s Soft Power Ambitions’, Cinema Journal: In Focus, 49(3), 451–463.
Keane, M. (2011) China’s New Creative Clusters: Governance, Human Capital and Investment (London: Routledge).
Keane, M. (2013) Creative Industries in China: Art, Design, Media (London: Polity).
Keane, M.A. and Zhao, E.J. (2012) ‘Renegades On the Frontier of Innovation: The Shanzhai Grassroots Communities of Shenzhen in China’s Creative Economy’, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 53(2), 216–230.
Kraus, R. (1995) ‘China’s Artists between Plan and Market’, in D. Davis, R. Kraus, B. Naughton and E.J. Perry (eds), Urban Spaces in Contemporary China: The Potential for Autonomy and Community in Post-Mao China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Kraus, R. (2004) The Party and the Arty: the New Politics of Culture (Lanham, Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield).
Kurlantzick, J. (2007) Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power Is Transforming theWorld (New Haven: Yale University Press).
Lawrence, S.V. and Martin, M.F. (2012) ‘Understanding China’s Political System’ in Congressional Research Service, May 12, 2012, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41007.pdf, date accessed March 21, 2013.
Li, M.J. (2008) ‘China Debates Soft Power’, Chinese Journal of International Politics, 2, 287–308.
Li, W.W. (2011) Creativity is Changing China, M. Keane (ed.), M. Keane, H. Li and M. Guo. (trans.), (London: Bloomsbury Academic).
Meng, B.C. (2011) ‘From Steamed Bun to Grass Mud Horse: E Gao as Alternative Political Discourse on the Chinese Internet’, Global Media and Communication, 7, 33–51.
Ministry of Culture (2012) Wenhua Bu’ shi er wu’ shiqi wenhua chanye beizeng jihua (MoC Plan to Double the Annual Added Value of the Cultural Industry during the 12th Five-Year-Plan), http://www.mcprc.gov.cn/preview/special/3477/3478/201203/t20120301_231780.html, date accessed March 15, 2013.
Naisbitt, J. and Naisbitt D. (2010) China’s Megatrends: The 8 Pillars of a New Society (New York: HarperBusiness).
Nye, J. (1990) Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power (New York: Basic Books).
Pang, L.K. (2012) ‘Post-socialism and Cultural Policy: The Depolitization of Culture in late 1970s and 1980s China’, in N. Otmazgin and E. Ben-Ari (eds), Popular Culture and the State in East and South-East Asia (London: Routledge).
Peng, X. (2009) ‘Wenhua jia keji dianran jingji xin liangdian’ (Culture Plus Science and Technology Light Up the Economy), China Science & Technology Fortune, 8, 98–101.
Schell, O. (1995) Mandate of Heaven: A New Generation of Entrepreneurs, Dissidents, Bohemians and Technocrats Lays Claim to China’s Future (New York: Simon & Schuster).
Sun, Wanning (2010) ‘Mission Impossible? Soft Power, Communication Capacity, and the Globalization of Chinese Media’, International Journal of Communication, 4, 54–72.
Wallis, C. and Qiu, J.L. (2012) ‘Shanzhaiji and the Transformation of the Local Mediasphere in Shenzhen’, in W. Sun and J. Chio (eds), Mapping Media in China: Region, Province, Locality. (London: Routledge).
Wang, J. and Cai, R.H. (2011) Shenhua wenhua tizhi gaige tuidong shehuizhuyi wenhua dafazhan dafanrong shijiang (Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao chubanshe).
Wang, S.G. (1995) ‘The Politics of Private Time’, in D. Davis, R. Kraus, B. Naughton and E.J. Perry (eds), Urban Spaces in Contemporary China: The Potential for Autonomy and Community in Post-Mao China (Cambridge: Wilson Press).
Wei, L. (2012) Culture to be Pillar Industry, http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-02/16/content_14624552.htm, date accessed March 15, 2013
Wen, J.B. (2009), Report on the Work of the Government, March 14, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/14/content_11009548_5.htm, date accessed April 30, 2012.
Wu, R.W.S. and Leung, G.L.K. (2012). ‘Implementation of Three Network Convergence in China: A New Institutional Analysis’, Telecommunications Policy, 36(10-11), 955–965.
Zhao, E.J. (2011) ‘Social Network Market: Storytelling on a Web 2.0 Original Literature Site’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 17, 85–99.
Zhao, E.J. and Keane, M. (2013) ‘Between Formal and Informal: The Shakeout in China’s Online Video Industry’, Media, Culture and Society, 35(6), 724–741.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Michael Keane and Elaine Jing Zhao
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Keane, M., Zhao, E.J. (2014). The Reform of the Cultural System: Culture, Creativity and Innovation in China. In: Lee, HK., Lim, L. (eds) Cultural Policies in East Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137327772_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137327772_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46019-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-32777-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)