The Transnationalization of Chinese Television: 1992–1996

This chapter examines the transnationalization of Chinese television during the accelerated reform period (1992–1996), defined as a process involving the penetration and adoption of transnational cultural forms amid state efforts to regulate cross-border inflows. It analyses this transformation through three dimensions: first, the reconfiguration of state governance through the dual pursuit of marketization, which positioned television as a profit-oriented tertiary industry, and regulatory oversight, manifest in tightened foreign program imports alongside facilitated technological and managerial inflows; second, the impacts of state policies on ownership, market structure, management practices, production values, and program content; and third, the interplay between state policy and various power factors, including transnational corporations, subnational stations, and audience preferences. Drawing on interviews and documentary research at national, provincial, and local television stations, this chapter argues that the ideological aims of state policies were diluted as commercial imperatives drove subnational stations and transnational corporations to bypass regulatory constraints. The analysis challenges prevailing assumptions of nation-state demise by demonstrating the coexistence of temporary government failures and unregulated market forces, while tracing how institutional adaptation enabled the Chinese state to reassert its regulatory authority.