(Post-)Television in China: Governmentality, Soft Power and Nation Building

Abstract

With an over one billion-strong domestic audience and growing transnational influence and accessibility, Chinese television has become a new symbol and carrier of China’s soft power in an era of increasing global connectivity and is playing a prominent role in cultural governance within the country. In line with the global trend of digitalization and the rapid convergence of delivery platforms, it is now increasingly difficult to define the boundaries of “television” in China. At the same time, the resilience of state control over and the social engineering function of Chinese television makes China a special case in the study of global television. The study of China will contribute to the mapping of television and its cultural politics in today’s globalized and digitalized era. Borrowing Foucault’s concept of governmentality, this paper regards (post-)television, or rather, televisuality, as an effective and dynamic medium of communication and explores the roles it has played in the formation of postsocialist Chinese subjects.