Topic 7: Cultural Change
1. Cultural hegemony/homogenization under Mao
2. Pluralization & CCP’s countermoves
3. Commercialization
Culture: normative & non-normative dimensions
(information item)
Culture involves the construction, communication /
presentation, interpretation & appreciation of symbols
(e.g., language, visual images, sounds, tones, smells,
tastes, other sensory inputs...) that are meaningful.
Normative (regulatory) dimensions of culture: values 價
值觀 (principles regarding what is good or bad,
desirable or undesirable, right or wrong …), beliefs,
norms (concrete behavioral rules - e.g., filial piety),
rituals (e.g., ancestral worship) ...
Non-normative dimensions of culture: way of (material)
life (cuisine, herbal medicine, chopsticks ... ), customs,
craftsmanship, arts, literary styles, aesthetics 審美觀 ...
Functionality
vs
Symbolism
Cultural continuity & change: values, norms, lifestyles, other ...
1. Cultural hegemony/homogenization under Mao
Cultural forms were defined as mouthpiece of CCP rather than
ways of self-expression
The dominant message: public interest lies above private interest
(focal theme of Mao’s attempt at mind transformation)
Methods to impose cultural hegemony:
– Binary distinctions between “right” & “wrong”, “good” &
“bad”…
– Reinforcement of the dominant moral message through mass
media & schools
– Information blockade/filtering, attacks on “cultural heresy”,
demonization of pre-revolution era & capitalist world
– Suppression of independent-minded intellectuals
Binary definition of cultural products/phenomena before 1978
“Counter-revolutionary” “Revolutionary”
Cultural hegemony (information item)
Hegemony 霸權: a form of
dominance, especially with certain
degree of consent on the part of the
dominated
Cultural hegemony: creation &
institutionalization of ways of
– (1) seeing/perceiving and
thinking in light of a
“superior/proper” frame of
reference (e.g., a value system),
and
– (2) excluding/constraining What you see depends on
alternative visions and/or ways where you look & how you
of reasoning (e.g., as illegitimate, see…
morally inferior, or problematic)
Propaganda via mass media
Indoctrination through schools
Revolutionary heroes: sacrificing self for society (common message)
interests of the people above everything serving the people
Condemning “humanist (self-interested) views” of the landlord-capitalist class
2. Cultural pluralization & CCP’s countermoves
Pluralization 多元化
– Self-destruction of Maoism
– Weakening appeal of new official ideology in face of contradictory
realities (e.g., inequalities, corruption & insecurity vs claims of
socialism) & despite renewed efforts to magnify nationalism &
promote personality cult of top leader
– Breakdown of information blockade, influx of cultural
products/values from abroad & resurgence of remnants of “old
culture”
– Justification of open pursuit of self-interest & growth of
“gray”/“neutral” area (other than politically sensitive & “obscene”
material) of culture that official policies do not effectively regulate
– Rising monitoring cost for enforcement of censorship despite efforts
to resort to new technology to aid surveillance & control
– Growing role of new media: TV, the internet, & mobile
communication devices, plus social media (e.g., WeChat) & self-
media
Trifurcation (trio division) of cultural products/phenomena now
Categorically
banned:
× Politically Officially
subversive / promoted:
sensitive
√ Communist
(including
ideology
separatist)
√ Nationalism
× Explicitly
“obscene” √ “China model”
(pornographic,
√Personality cult
violent, abusive,
(2013 -)
…) 有傷風化 Anything else
(growth/expansion is not a
linear process, though)
Old cultural forms revived
Themes/stories
about imperial/
feudal China
Modern /
contemporary themes
Big-budget,
international
productions (flops?)
Different art styles
Different art styles
(political) lampooning
Different
sounds of music
施光南
卡拉 OK
趙季平
何訓田
Diverse landscape of
literature
Nobel literature prize winners from inside & outside the system
New writers from the
post-1980 generation
“80後”新⼈新⽂學
Red nostalgism 紅⾊懷舊 : Fads or remembrance?
Back to the open: religion
& worship
Restoration of local rituals: village temple fair & procession of local deities
Selected Statistics on Mass Media
12000
10000 10192
8000
6000 5751 TV channels
Newspapers
4000
3603 Magazines
2000
1444 1810
32 186 93 554
0
1978
1990
2020
Source: 中國統計年鑑
Selected statistics on TV coverage (2020)
overall rural
TV 99.4% 99.2%
(population)
Cable TV 46.2% 30.2%
(household)
Source:: 国家广播电影电视总局
Source: 中國統計年鑑
Telephone ownership (per 100 individuals)
120 113
100
80
60 Fixed line
Mobile
40
20 12.38 12.9
6.72
0.38
0
1978 2000 2020
Source: 中國統計年鑑
China's telecom revolution, 1990-2020
1700 1.4
1600 1.3
1500
Mobile phone subscribers (10,000)
1.2
Average usage cost (yuan/minute)
1400
1.1
1300
1200 1
1100 0.9
1000 0.8
900
0.7
800
700 0.6
600 0.5
500 0.4
400
0.3
300
0.2
200
100 0.1
0 0
1991
2001
2011
1990
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
1G 2G 3G 4G 5G
Note: Information on usage cost is neither adjusted to inflation nor weighted with real wage levels; voice and data charges are not
separated. Figures for 1995-1997 are weighted averages of Guangdong and Zhejiang.
Sources: China Statistical Yearbook , 1995-2021; annual reports of China Telecom/China Mobile, 1997-2021
1080（
2023）
Source: 中國統計年鑑
Social media & self-media
CCP’s countermoves in twenty-first century
Use of new tech & platforms for (a) censorship
and (b) dissemination and promotion of official
messages
Efforts to rebuild hegemonic discourse
– “China model”
– Problems in Western systems
– Neo-nationalism
Use of new media for political propaganda
Defects &
hypocrisies
of the West
(dysfunctional
democracies)
“China model” / 西⽅的月亮并不圆
“Chinese solutions”
(claiming credit for
economic progress as
justification for CCP
rule ): the system
works (why change?)
中国模式的独特优势 Pride & nationalism
源于5000年历史⽂化底蕴的自豪和自信
Re-building hegemonic discourse power:
3-pronged argument
CCP’s efforts to promote nationalism since the mid-1990s
Main objectives:
1) Adding legitimacy to the CCP
2) Diverting attention from problematic social realities (increasing
inequalities, corruption, economic insecurity, environmental decay,
tension & conflict …)
3) Curbing Taiwan independence (& other separatist movements),
cultivating cultural attachment and public support in HK and
Macau, and appealing to overseas Chinese disapora
4) Rallying & cementing popular support for territorial claims
disputed by other countries
5) Maneuvering for hegemonic discourse power 話語霸權 in CCP
internal rivalry
Theme: China rising / re-emerging as a great nation “實現中華民族的
偉⼤復興 ” (1999-)
A double-edged sword, though (e.g., backlash on China in the West &
beyond; shifting emotional responses among citizens... )
Mao no longer as sacred as before
Renewed efforts to promote nationalism
Trilogy of nationalist education/propaganda
past glory
humiliation in modern history
pride & self-confidence regained
民族主義宣傳 / 教育三部曲
Anchored
in past &
collectivity
3. Commercialization of culture (as [big] business)
New economy: profit-orientation, competition, & importance of
consumers
Media: from mouthpiece of party-state to money-making machine &
from total public ownership to increasingly diverse ownership
Other culture-related establishments / organizations (old & new --
e.g., tourism): viability / survivability depends increasingly on
profitability of their products / services / functions
Orientation & prioritization of the cultural (content) industry:
commercial (profit) consideration selectively shapes the presentation,
packaging, & promotion of cultural artefacts / products / activities, as
well as the reception and interpretation of their meanings
New consumer culture & profit-making opportunities: from
functionality/practicality to merchant-driven/defined symbolism (.e.g.,
fashion/fads 時尚/流⾏) as growing source of value-added
Consumerism, materialistic values, and then some
Materialism & the materialistic generation of new (urban) China
Growing exposure to Western cultural influence
After
disappearing
for more than
20 years,
marketing
made a come-
back in 1979
“China chic”
New life styles (& making
money by defining &
selling them)
“Entertainment” business & the new
underworld: prostitution, gambling, drugs,
organized crime…
Final Exam
Time: 100 minutes during 12:30pm-14:30pm, December 18
(Wednesday)
Venue: Tsang Shiu Tsim Art Hall
Platform: Canvas (“Quizzes”)
Coverage: Material discussed in class since mid-term
Format: MC (40 questions) & open book
Logistics: same as midterm
