Communication in China

Political Economy, Power, and Conflict

By (author) Yuezhi Zhao

Publication date:

20 March 2008

Length of book:

384 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

240x162mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780742519657

The stakes for control over the means of communication in China have never been so high as the country struggles with breathtaking social change. This authoritative book analyzes the key dimensions of the transformation in China's communication system since the early 1990s and examines the highly fluid and potentially explosive dynamics of communication, power, and social contestation during China's rapid rise as a global power.

Yuezhi Zhao begins with an analysis of the party-state's reconfiguration of political, economic, and ideological power in the Chinese communication system. She then explores the processes and social implications of domestic and foreign capital formation in the communication industry. Drawing on media and Internet debates on fundamental political, economic, and social issues in contemporary China, the book concludes with a nuanced depiction of the pitched and uneven battles for access and control among different social forces.

Locating developments in Chinese communication within the nexus of state, market, and society, the author analyzes how the legacies of socialism continue to cast a long shadow. The book not only provides a multifaceted and interdisciplinary portrait of contemporary Chinese communication, but also explores profound questions regarding the nature of the state, the dynamics of class formation, and the trajectory of China's epochal social transformation.
An outstanding reference point for what we want to know about China’s communication system. To be sure, the book is about much more than communication. In fact, it embraces most of the complex issues and forces involved in China’s political, economic, and social modernization. . . . To China scholars and students, I say put this book on your list of the top 25 books on contemporary China. It is a superb study based on solid research and strong analysis.