Television and civilization

This paper examines the manner by which the Chinese Communist Party has moved to allow cultural producers more autonomy. I argue that such a shift in government rationality needs to be viewed as part of wider reform programmes and strategies intended to promote diversity and make institutions more accountable and efficient. The interface between culture and the market in contemporary China is often described as a tension between commercialism and propaganda, or simply a trend towards pluralism, but with ‘Chinese characteristics’. I argue that it is more useful to view the relations between culture and government as accommodation and compromise. Cultural policy statements are often deliberately ambiguous and relations between officials and producers are continually being redefined. I suggest that a Foucauldian notion of governmentality can provide the methodological tools to understand the complexity of quasi-commercialized culture in China. A reading of cultural policy statements pertaining to television drama production will illustrate my argument.