Media Culture in Modern China (P02113)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : LLC-P-P02113

Commercialisation, consumerism and technological developments have transformed China?s media landscape fundamentally and changed its social and political role in the last two decades. Although the media have emancipated themselves from being mere Party mouthpieces, governmental actions aiming at censorship and control still dominantly determine their fundamental parameters of operation.
Understanding of this dramatic change in China?s media system is crucial to our knowledge of contemporary Chinese culture and literature in the PRC as it forms the framework for China?s cultural and literary production and dissemination. Analysis of how the government is coping with the challenges of media proliferation, decentralisation and commercialisation is also important for understanding changing state-society relations in the PRC.
The course will critically discuss these developments from a historical perspective to gain an understanding of the present situation of mass media in the PRC. It will focus on key issues of media studies, key concepts, institutions, media practice and media law. We will discuss the basic ?traditional? and new ideological Marxist-Leninist premises and concepts that inform China?s media practice and then proceed to case studies in the realms of the print media, publishing and literary production, TV and Radio, film and internet.
The course will address key issues of the Chinese media system such as censorship, commercialisation, consumerism, popular culture, globalization, media ethics and media debates.

The course is an additional option for students of the Chinese Literature, Language and Culture (MSc/Dip) programme, but might be of interest also to students of the Master of Chinese Studies programme, Cultural Studies and Translation Studies.

? Keywords : China, media culture, media institutions, media law, media ethics

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Asian Studies, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
08/01/2008	11:10	13:00	Room G.02, 16-20 George Square	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	11:10	13:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to:
- identify key concepts of media production and media control in China
- understand the institutional framework of information production and dissemination, its limits and leeway
- understand the changing perceptions of media and information
- critically assess and interpret information on China conveyed through mass media and its literary and cultural production on the basis of China?s media system.