China Under Western Gaze

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Contents

The following sections are included:

• China and the West: Relations vs. Images
• Representing China: Key Perspectives
• Modernity as a Grand Narrative
• References

There is extensive literature studying Western representations of China, telling us a great deal about what images are presented and why (Isaacs, 1958; Dawson, 1967; Mosher, 1990; Jespersen, 1996; Zhang, 1998; Mackerras, 1999; Pan, 2012). However, the question as to how these images are realized and through what mechanisms, in particular the mass media, has rarely been explored. To deepen our understanding of Western portrayals of China, the issue of how is as important as that of what. This chapter discusses the conceptual and methodological issues of the study of Chinese representation, and establishes an analytical framework to examine television documentary text. In our globalised but technology-driven world, the mass media play a central role in making sense of ourselves and our environment, and crucially the changing relationships between the West and the Rest. Yet the Western media have not made any changes that are commensurate with the transformation sweeping the world. This is most evident in the formation of discourse about the ‘other’ as a system of representation. The West tends to see in the Rest an idealised or distorted image of itself, and projects onto this image their own fears, confidence and desire, through a modernity-centred discourse, in particular in its liberal humanist version. Fundamental in representing the cultural ‘other’ is the deep-rooted assumption of a historically inevitable and necessarily ‘progressive’ character of Western expansion into the Rest. This underlying assumption underlies the latent structure of media reporting of the non-Western world…

This chapter examines the broad features of representations of China as a civilisation in TV documentaries and discusses the assumptions and values constructed by charting their different portrayals. The analysis focuses on two topics, those of Confucianism and the Opium War. Confucianism represents a defining feature of Chinese civilisation and its portrayal reflects how China is perceived as a different cultural tradition. The Opium War, on the other hand, represents a critical moment of Sino-Western conflict; its reporting reveals perceptions of cultural identities of both China and the West. By selecting these conflicting representations as an analytical focus the chapter aims to demonstrate the complexities of images of China as a civilisation…

This chapter examines how the first half of the 20^th century China is portrayed. It forms the first part of the examination of ‘China as Communist other’. The analysis aims to de-construct the patterned representation and focuses on typical images of China by exploring two narrative themes of the CCP vs. the KMT and nationalism vs. imperialism. A delineation of global discursive features enables a critical evaluation of images of Republic of China (1911-1949) and a broad comparison with the post-1949 China (see analysis in the next chapter). Using extensive extracts from documentary texts, the examination reveals how local sequences are linked to the global meanings that inform the image of China in the first half of the 20^th century.

This chapter focuses on the representation of post-1949 China that forms the second half of ‘China as Communist “other”’. The analysis examines the patterns of representing major events such as the Great Leap Forward (GLF), the Cultural Revolution (CR) and the 1989 political events as well as major actors such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. The emphasis is on what is highlighted, marginalised and omitted. Overall, the representation of post-1949 China is characterised by deviance as a central focus. Deviance, as highlighted in these programmes, has multi-dimensional meanings. First, it refers to various social disasters resulting from political blunders. Second, it denotes ideological differences in terms of the capitalism/communism and democracy/dictatorship divide. Finally, it carries sociocultural connotations in a binary opposition of rationality/irrationality. In marking out deviance, various discursive strategies are employed in the construction of sociohistorical events. This chapter looks particularly at the sphere of actions surrounding ‘Mao's China’ and ‘Deng's China’…

This chapter presents an analysis of Roads to Xanadu, a 4-part series broadcast by BBC2 in July and August 1990. It recounts Chinese civilisation, focusing on science and technology, from Marco Polos times down to the end of 1980s. The selection of this series is based on three considerations. First, it is a comprehensive documentary that deals with the broad expanse of Chinese history that is the focus of the current study. Second, it presents a full account of the notion of progress, which is a recurrent central theme in many documentaries covered by this study. Third, it demonstrates narrative and discursive features that share broad similarities with these other documentaries. The chapter focuses on three interrelated questions: (1) how values, assumptions and subjectivities are constructed and conveyed through the notion of ‘progress’ imbedded in modernity; (2) how such a portrayal is intertwined with constructing identities of China and the West; and (3) identifying the verbal and visual features of the representation and mechanisms of meaning realisation…

In previous chapters, the author has examined documentary representation of China in terms of narrative structures and discursive formations. This chapter moves the focus to relations of power in documentary production. It explores the matrix of power relations in which meanings are mediated and generated at textual and contextual levels, focusing on the organisational and linguistic features of an expository text and the institutional dynamics of documentary production. At the textual level, the expository mode of presentation, textual values, and mode of interview are analysed. At the contextual level, the institutional dynamics of documentary production is investigated, focusing on the broadcaster and the production company and aided by field interviews…

Shoemaker (1984, 1987) and Shoemaker et al. (1991) observe that those political groups perceived by the media as deviant are typically given less favourable treatment, though not less attention. Shoemaker et al. (1987) contend that world events covered by the Western media are more deviant than those not covered. Similarly, those events covered often convey normative deviance. The media do not screen out deviant ideas, but rather portray them in a way in which the deviance is underscored. The ideological status quo is reaffirmed by ridiculing deviant ideas as Miliband (1969: 238) puts it ‘irrelevant eccentricities which serious and reasonable people may dismiss as of no consequence’. The findings of the present study support these conclusions to a large degree, including that of the model developed by Hallin (1986) in the marking in media reports of three boundaries of spheres of consensus, legitimate controversy, and deviance…

The following sections are included:

• Appendix I List of Key UK Documentaries about China, 1980-2000
  • Part 1 Core Documentaries Analysed in This Study
  • Part 2 Key UK TV Documentaries about China
• Appendix II List of Interviews
• Appendix III An Interview with Hugh Baker
• Index