Foreign or Chinese? Reconfiguring the Symbolic Space of Chinese Media

Authors

  • Wanning Sun University of Technology, Sydney

Keywords:

China, state media, foreign media, foreign correspondent, symbolic space, deterritorializationmedia, boundary, deterritorialization

Abstract

While we already know about the Chinese Party-state’s ambition to expand its mediasphere globally, we know less about the shape that this expansion has assumed, and the pathways that have been pursued to facilitate it. This article addresses these questions by discussing the changing definitions of “domestic” and “foreign” media, as well as examining the reconfiguration of symbolic spaces within which China is reported. The article first gives a detailed account of the so-called Andrea Yu affair, which, as will become clear, embodies the complex and dynamic processes by which the symbolic spaces of China-reporting are being reconfigured as a result of China’s going-global project. This is followed by an outline of a number of pathways that the Chinese state media have taken in recent years. Finally, the paper considers the tensions and complexities in China’s efforts to go global, paying particular attention to the interplay of geographical, political, and ideological factors.

Author Biography

Wanning Sun, University of Technology, Sydney

Wanning Sun is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies in the China Research Centre, University of Technology, Sydney. She does research in a number of areas, including Chinese media and cultural studies, public diplomacy and communication in China, and transnational migration and diasporic Chinese media. Wanning Sun is the author of two single-authored monographs: Leaving China: Media, Migration, and Transnational Imagination (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002); and Maid in China: Media, Morality and the Cultural Politics of Boundaries (Routledge, 2009). She is also editor of a number of volumes on Chinese politics, culture and diaspora.Contact Details:Wanning SunFaculty of Arts and Social SciencesUniversity of Technology SydneyPO Box 123Broadway NSW 2007AUSTRALIATel: +61 2 9514 9939Fax: +61 2 9514 3939

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Published

2014-07-02

Issue

Vol. 8 (2014)

Section

Articles

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