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China Media Research - Vol. 11, No.1

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Category: Back Issues
Published on 17 March 2015
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  Issue Vol. 11, No. 1 / January 2015
Culture and Multitasking among Chinese Internet Users: The Effects of Cultural Appeals on Multitasking and Information Processing Patterns in Online Media Environment
Author(s): Gennadi Gevorgyan, Naira Manucharova, Jatin Srivastava
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Our study explores the relationship between culture and multitasking as well as culture and information processing in the context of Web-based communication. The study builds on an earlier completed pilot research examining the effects of culturally oriented Web sites on multitasking among Chinese American Internet users. Focused on two distinct communities of Web users-Chinese American and mainland Chinese-our current undertaking experimentally explores the cognitive effects of cultural appeals while expanding the findings of the pilot study. Our results reveal that culturally oriented Web sites are destructive. They are especially destructive among mainland Chinese users and users with strong ethnic identities. In particular, the presence of cultural appeals in Web sites serves as a double-edged sword. While enhancing attitudes, cultural appeals produce multitasking among users with whom those appeals resonate while diminishing overall cognitive performance as a result. Our findings also reveal that Chinese American participants are less responsive to cultural appeals than their mainland Chinese counterparts, possibly indicating that some Chinese American Internet users have become culturally neutral. [Gennadi Gevorgyan, Naira Manucharova, Jatin Srivastava. Culture and Multitasking among Chinese Internet Users: The Effects of Cultural Appeals on Multitasking and Information Processing Patterns in Online Media Environment. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 1-13].
Mass Collaboration and Reading Citizen Journalism
Author(s): Wesley Shu, Lin, Hota Chia-Sheng
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This research delves what makes people read reports by citizen journalists. We first explain the importance of reading citizen journalism from the concept of two-sided markets. Then, we use UTAUT with mass collaboration to find the factors making people reading them. We found mass collaboration, performance expectancy, effort expectancy have positive impact on the intention to read citizen journalism. The role a reader chooses, either a reader or a reader and writer, can moderate the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and mass collaboration on the intention to read. The degree of involvement also moderates the effect of effort expectancy and mass collaboration on the intention to read. [Wesley Shu, Lin, Hota Chia-Sheng. Mass Collaboration and Reading Citizen Journalism. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 14-25].
Electronic Media Consumption: An Exploring Preferences & Trends
Author(s): Kalwar, Munwar Ali
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Several studies have suggested that audience is, contemporarily, more free in selecting media contents. Students and literate choose different media programs as compared to illiterates. Media contents selected by women are usually not liked by their male peers. This study attempts to examine the media content selected different groups of people. Private media channels from Pakistan have selected to find out the current trends in media and choice of peoples about programs. Three channels are selected to measure the contents and to explore what media offer the people to watch. The content analysis method has been employed for this purpose. Choice of people for the selection of media contents by people was put on place through survey method. The programs of the three channels namely Geo News, ARY News and Waqt News Ire selected for content analysis, telecasted in November 2011. I have found out that media devote more time programs with political orientation rather than social. Among three channels, only one channel has been found to be giving less time to politics but other two channels have primarily politics focused programs. Results show that there is a huge gap between media contents and the people choices. People want to watch public interest programs on television but the media heavily telecast the programs with political orientation. Students have been found to receiving most of information on economics through newspapers, while news channels have failed to cater to the needs of students. Research results support the premise that the people are found busy in talking against the media policy and their programs. People believe that if the current trends of media continued in the same spirit and speed, the nation will be grabbed far from the social activity and development of masses remain elusive as it is. [Kalwar, Munwar Ali. Electronic Media Consumption: An Exploring Preferences & Trends. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 26-35].
Analyzing the Nationalist Genre of Chinese Commercial Media: Case Study ofSohu Web Documentary - The Search for Modern China
Author(s): Shenshen Cai
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Chinese nationalism is frequently discussed in recently published academic articles and media reports. Many scholars have argued that nationalism is enlisted by the CCP as an ideological replacement to fill the vacuum left by the diminishing influence of Marxism and Maoism. It is also considered as a useful means to counter the contemporary Chinese problems of the decline of central power, the weakening of national identity, and actual or perceived external threats. Nationalism, in the Chinese social and political lexicon, can be divided into several categories: state nationalism, ethnic nationalism, cultural nationalism and popular nationalism. This paper focuses on a nuanced hybrid nationalist genre of state nationalism and popular nationalism which merge at the platform provided by China’s commercial media. It examines how commercial media digests the influence of the state nationalism discourse in their news reporting and program designing in order to find a living space in a market economy with Chinese characteristics which is dominated by both the ideological and commercial factors, while stimulating nationalist sentiment among the Chinese masses. [Shenshen Cai. Analyzing the Nationalist Genre of Chinese Commercial Media: Case Study ofSohu Web Documentary - The Search for Modern China. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 36-45].
The Media and Science Communication: Exploring the Complexity of Communicating Science in South Africa
Author(s): Hester du Plessis
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After years of politically imposed isolation, full diplomatic relations between China and South Africa was formalised in January 1998. In the following years the extended contact between China and South Africa was included in the realization of forming the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group incentive. Grouping together countries that were previously political adversaries often highlights the lack of cultural acceptance and absence of philosophical understanding between nations. It follows that the BRICS relations are reviving common interest in intercultural and international communication systems, processes and communication technologies. With the focus largely on communication capabilities and activities facilitated by new technologies - such as the internet - the area of collaboration in science communication is less pronounced. The intent of science communication is serving a somewhat different requirement than that of journalism but both are necessary in establishing and maintaining global relations. Also; the influence of philosophy and ideology on the theoretical framework of science communication is becoming more prominent; especially within the current ‘science and society’ paradigm that is central to science communication theory. Africa is lagging behind on all fronts. In this paper a closer look is taken at the complexities that characterised the South African political past that might still have an impact on today’s application of science communication and journalism in support of newly forged global relations. [Hester du Plessis. The Media and Science Communication: Exploring the Complexity of Communicating Science in South Africa. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 46-54].
A Pathfinder in Communication Studies in China —AGlimpse of Professor Shao Peiren’s Academic Achievement
Author(s): Xiaochun Guo
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An influential scholar given to strategic thinking, Professor Shao Peiren has engaged prolifically with communication studies and media management research. This paper, which aims to explore the main aspects of this great scholar’s academic thought, both introduces and looks back on his main academic experience and achievements. A detailed analysis suggests that Professor Shao distinguished himself by advocating indigenization and interdisciplinary research in media and communication; as well, he demonstrated profound patriotic sentiments regarding his country and fellow countrymen. Professor Shao’s indigenization thought is based upon his research mode of holistic interactionism which stems from the traditional Chinese concept of the unity of man and heaven. His interdisciplinary study thought is embodied in his achievements in media management, media geography and media ecology. And, his patriotism is most apparent: (a) in his consideration of the needs of disadvantaged groups; (b) in his media management study; and, (c) in his management of the China Media Report. [Xiaochun Guo. A Pathfinder in Communication Studies in China—AGlimpse of Professor Shao Peiren’s Academic Achievement. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 55-67].


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[Special Section]
Diasporic and Border-Crossing Chinese Identities

Guest Editor: Todd L. Sandel, University of Macau;
Aimee Dawis, University of Indonesia
Analyzing The Little Nyonya: Portrayal of Cultural and Gender Expectations of Peranakan Chinese Life in Southeast Asia
Author(s): Aimee Dawis
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The Peranakan Chinese is a unique hybrid community that is the product of intermarriages between early Mainland Chinese immigrants and the indigenous population in Southeast Asia. The Little Nyonya is a record-breaking, 34-episode Mandarin drama serial which debuted on 25 November 2008 on Singapore’s free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8. The storyline, which involves an extended Peranakan Chinese family in Malacca and Singapore, is set in the 1930s and spans 70 years. The series was partly sponsored by the Media Development Authority of Singapore. The drama ended its run on 5 January 2009.The popularity of the drama sparked a renaissance of Peranakan Chinese culture in Singapore and generated considerable interest in Indonesia. This paper looks into cultural and gender expectations of Peranakan Chinese life in Southeast Asia as they are represented in the series, as well as the corresponding Peranakan Chinese history, culture and practices in Singapore and Indonesia. Through a series of interviews with members of the Peranakan Chinese community in Singapore and Indonesia, archival research, and an analysis of the serial itself, the paper explores indigenization and exchange between ethnic Chinese and their adopted countries in the era of globalization. [Aimee Dawis. Analyzing the Little Nyonya: Portrayal of Cultural and Gender Expectations of Peranakan-Chinese Life in Southeast Asia. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 68-75].
“Bring some hustle and run”: Parody, Asianness, and Bakhtinian Carnival in Chinatown Hustler
Author(s): Anna Wong Lowe, David C. Oh
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Parody in all its contentious forms resounds in the music and videos of Notorious MSG, the self-proclaimed, “original Chinatown bad boys” from New York City’s “East Side Chinatown.” The group members are serious musicians, but their on-stage and online presence is based in caricature and humor. Bakhtin asserts that carnival laughter represents interconnected parts of the universal, communal festivity, ambivalence, and grotesque realism. Laughter in this form is not merely humor, but a communal spirit of the cycle of renewal and rebirth. This laughter transforms the communal material body of the folk and presents a different outlook of the world. We trace the connections between the hustler and Asianness in Notorious MSG’s music video Chinatown Hustler. The racial-ethnic images such as the hustler and the immigrant Asian are masks that are blended together by Notorious MSG to ultimately create a new one. The parody of the participant/observer hustler in its dialogic frame in the music video channels the grotesque and ambivalent in Bakhtin’s carnival laughter. This counters the hegemonic power of Asian/American tropes and simultaneously reifies them. The collective image of the immigrant Asian via the hustler is disruptive because it plays on the tropes of the FOB (Fresh Off the Boat), the model minority vis-à-vis the hustler, and Asian/American (de)masculinity. [Anna Wong Lowe, David C. Oh. “Bring some hustle and run”: Parody, Asianness, and Bakhtinian Carnival in Chinatown Hustler. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 76-86].
“Messengers of the Good News”: Discourse of Chinese Indonesian Evangelical Christian (CIEC) Identity
Author(s): Sunny Lie
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A group of Chinese Indonesian Evangelical Christians living in a city in Northeast U.S. was uncertain whether they should continue distributing generic Christian flyers in the city’s public park. Its leader decided to call for a special prayer meeting to convince members of the efficacy of this outreach activity, despite its unpopularity among members. In this analysis, I argue that in discussing the value of a particular evangelical activity, members of a Chinese Indonesian Evangelical Christian (CIEC) group engaged in identity work that reflects deep-seated Reformed Christian beliefs, Indonesian cultural heritage, Chinese Confucian cultural orientations, historical marginalization of Chinese Indonesians in Indonesia, and racialization of Asian Americans in mainstream U.S. identity discourse. Using the notion of identity as social-construction, I unveil how they “do”“being” CIEC within the confines of Indonesian and U.S. American historical, political, and social structures. It is an identity enactment that is multilayered, fluid, creative, and intersubjective, yet restricted within existing macro-level societal structures in both Indonesia and the U.S. [Sunny Lie. “Messengers of the Good News”: Discourse of Chinese Indonesian Evangelical Christian (CIEC) Identity. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 87-98].
“It’s Not Copyrighted,” Looking West for Authenticity: Historical Chinatowns and China Town Malls in South Africa
Author(s): T. Tu Huynh
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This paper provides an alternative reading of the Chinese mall phenomenon that has mushroomed in post-apartheid South Africa, mainly after 2010. Through an analysis of the “China Town” malls, it argues that the Chinese and ethnic-Chinese investors are not simply tapping into a “China brand” that has become salient with China’s emergence as a global economic power, but are also participating in a global construction of Chinese identity that resists the Chinese state’s dominance over representations of “Chineseness.” This paper builds on secondary literature on Chinatowns (mostly in the U.S.) and fieldwork in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces in South Africa. It shows that China Town is not just a commercial entity that has a concentration of Chinese people and shops, but signals a deliberate turn to historical Chinatowns that are diasporic social formations and globally recognized as “Chinese.” The China Town malls interconnect two phenomena that differ in culture and value, one being a response to Western exploitation and the other to China’s rise. As such, the paper asks: What is to be made of this interconnection? [T. Tu Huynh. “It’s Not Copyrighted,” Looking West for Authenticity: Historical Chinatowns and China Town Malls in South Africa. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 99-111].
The Acculturation and Identity of New Immigrant Youth in Macao
Author(s): Guan Xin & Todd L. Sandel
click to read abstract Abstract | Read More |
This paper provides an alternative reading of the Chinese mall phenomenon that has mushroomed in post-apartheid South Africa, mainly after 2010. Through an analysis of the “China Town” malls, it argues that the Chinese and ethnic-Chinese investors are not simply tapping into a “China brand” that has become salient with China’s emergence as a global economic power, but are also participating in a global construction of Chinese identity that resists the Chinese state’s dominance over representations of “Chineseness.” This paper builds on secondary literature on Chinatowns (mostly in the U.S.) and fieldwork in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces in South Africa. It shows that China Town is not just a commercial entity that has a concentration of Chinese people and shops, but signals a deliberate turn to historical Chinatowns that are diasporic social formations and globally recognized as “Chinese.” The China Town malls interconnect two phenomena that differ in culture and value, one being a response to Western exploitation and the other to China’s rise. As such, the paper asks: What is to be made of this interconnection? [T. Tu Huynh. “It’s Not Copyrighted,” Looking West for Authenticity: Historical Chinatowns and China Town Malls in South Africa. China Media Research 2015; 11(1): 99-111].
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