ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION AND POLITICAL CONSERVATISMAS REFLECT
During the past 20 years, China has been undergoing the greatest changes in its history, earmarked by rapid economic growth. In 1997, the annual income of Chinese residents reached an average equivalence of 660 US dollars, an annual increase of about eight times than that in 1990 (Xie, 1998). The increase, though low as compared with the western standard, is remarkable considering the fact that China has a large population base of more than 1.2 billion.
The rapid economic growth has not only boosted the whole nation but promoted the development of its media system as well. In 1978, China had only 32 television stations and 93 radio stations (Chan, 1994); the number has jumped to 2,000 and 1,416 respectively in 1997 while the regular audience size has increased from 36.1 % in 1980 to 84.2% in 1996 for radio and 30% in 1980 to 86.3% in 1996 for television (Xie, 1998) . The number of newspapers in China has also risen from 186 in 1978 to 2,163 in 1996, an increase of almost 12 times, while journals have also flourished in China, with its number expected to be 930 in 1978 up to 8,135 in 1997. Advertising, once considered the capitalist taboo, has also seen fast development during this period. Since its debut in 1979, the total ad income of the above four media has been increasing at a rate of ten times every five years, reaching18.28 billion RMB yuan in 1996. (Xie, 1998).
This chapter aims to discuss the media development in China since 1978 to present, which can be divided into two periods, characterized by a combination of economic liberalization and political conservatism. In the First Period ( 1978-1990), despite the back and forward swings, media development in China has been consistent. In the Second Period (1991-present ) when the market economy concept gained recognition, the competitive consciousness has become dominant among the China’s media system, which has brought about changes unprecedented in the 5,000 years of China. The media development in Shanghai, the dragon head of China, has been taken as a showcase, to discuss the trends in the media development and the impact of economic momentum and political orientation in the whole process.
BACKBROUND
Politically, the media in China still remain in a Communist Concept (Merrill, 1983) as defined in the traditional Four Theories of Press. The Chinese media, owned and operated by the State, are regarded as the organs of the Communist Party of China and the government, not the watchdog of the government as is the case in the U.S. (Streitmatter, 1994). The freedom of press in the Western sense, thought discussed a lot recently, is still "particles in the air," something that is yet to come (Lee, 1990).
However, in terms of its economy, the media do not fit into the Communist Concept only anymore. They may fall more coherently into the Development Concept, a combination of the Authoritarian and Communist theories (Stevenson, 1994). This tendency has become more obvious in the Second Period (1991-present) when the media in China are endowed with a kind of dual functions: continue to be the voice of the government ( the political conservatism) while becoming the voice of the marketplace as well (economic liberalization).
While it is true that the government still exercises control over the media system, a notion to which most westerners would object, the control itself does not necessary mean the stagnation of the media system itself. In fact, reasonable control can encourage the development of the media system( Xie 1998), as has been demonstrated by the practice of China in the past 20 years.
FIRST PERIOD WITH THREE PHASES (1978-1990)
Media development in China in the First Period from 1978 to 1990 can further be discussed in three phases featured by political campaigns which aimed to rein in media development, thus signaling the end of each phase, but laid the foundation for the media development in the following phase.
The first phase began in 1978 and ended in 1984 when the campaign against "Spiritual Pollution" started. The second phase lasted from 1985 to 1986 when the brake was applied during the campaign against "Bourgeois Liberalization." The third phase reached its climax in 1989 when the government cracked down on the students' movement and fought against "peaceful evolution" by Western countries (Chu, 1994).
Though intended to rein in the media, each of these political campaigns has stimulated rather than suppressed the media development in each phase. In fact, media development was accelerated on an escalating scale in each phase and usually was coupled with renewed emphasis in the liberalization process.
First Phase (1978-84)
The year of 1978 is a watershed for Chinese politics and media development (Lee, 1994). A strategic shift was proclaimed as the nation began to adopt an open and reform policy that aimed to modernize the country.
One immediate and dramatic media change was the elimination of the pompous reporting style of the "Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)," summed up in the phrase "falsehood, exaggeration, and empty talk" (Polumbaum, 1990). Chinese media such as the People's Daily, the party's mouthpiece, called for shorter news reports and a more lively style with timeliness to cover growing economic activities.
The increased volume of information in media is another sign of progress in this phase. The People's Daily took the lead to increase its pages from four to six in 1978 and then to eight in 1980, while the number of magazines and newspapers rose greatly from 1978 to 1984, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1
| Year | Magazines Total Printed Sheets(100 million) | Newspapers Total Printed Sheets(100 million) |
| 1978 | 22.7 | 113.5 |
| 1979 | 30.1 | 123.0 |
| 1980 | 36.7 | 141.7 |
| 1981 | 45.4 | 133.6 |
| 1982 | 46.0 | 129.1 |
| 1983 | 52.5 | 142.7 |
| 1984 | 64.3 | 162.3 |
Source: China Journalism Yearbooks (various years) (Chu, 1994)
Besides, advertising began to appear in Chinese media for the first time after the long silence in the “Cultural Revolution,” although it did not get into full swing until after 1990. China's first TV ad, more of an announcement than an ad, made its debut in Shanghai on January 28, 1979 (Guo, 1993). The ad for a herbal wine lasted about one minute and 35 seconds, too long by the Western norm, but it represents the start of China's TV ad industry.
Meanwhile, journalism education also expanded rapidly (Polumbaum, 1990) in the early 1980s to meet the increasing demand of media development and to accelerate information flow, badly needed for the economic reforms. The number of journalism teachers and undergraduate students increased almost four times from 1980 to 1984 while the number of graduate students remained the same (Guo, 1993).
What's more, China started five international journalism programs 1983 which integrate English language training into journalism education. The six-year programs exposed students to a wide variety of Western journalism concepts under their English speaking journalism professors. These open-minded students have now constituted a major reform force to push forward media development in China.
Second Phase (1985-86)
Following the campaign against "spiritual pollution" in 1984, Chinese media were silenced for a while, especially after then-Party General Secretary HU Yaobang’s speech in 1985, which emphasized the media role as the organs of the government (Polumbaum, 1990). However, it seemed that the party leadership only paid lip service as it still tolerated liberal ideas in media practices such as independent editorials. Meanwhile, media practitioners asked for “a free hand” in the media content, which was supported by the Publicity Department (Polumbuam, 1990), the Chinese counterpart of U.S. Information Agency.
One major trend toward liberalization in this phase was a formal recognition of the entertainment function of media in the nation’s Seventh Five-Year Plan. The focus on entertainment coincided with the rapid development of television, a powerful medium of entertainment. In fact, television development and the focus on entertainment reinforced each other in their mutual growth during this phase.
Since 1985, entertainment has become an inseparable part of most Chinese TV stations. TV entertainment programs usually include music, opera, literature, variety shows, ballad singing, acrobatic shows as well as TV dramas. For Shanghai Television Station, entertainment programs comprised over 60% of all air time in 1986 (Guo, 1993).
Of the entertainment fare, TV drama is the most popular. After 1983, TV dramas, produced and aired, saw an exponential speed. Foreign TV dramas also began to appear on Chinese screens. In 1986, the Chinese dubbed Walt Disney cartoon series “Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck” became a national favorite as soon as it was broadcast over the Central China Television Station (CCTV).
In fact, foreign TV dramas were generally preferred as there were few high-quality domestic TV series during this phase. In a national survey by CCTV in 1987, 72 percent of the respondents favored foreign dramas (Yu, 1992).
In 1983, as the nation decided to build a nationwide television system by the end of this century, state expenditures on television began to increase. In 1985, the expenditure jumped to 1,780 million yuan (over $210 million) as compared with 670 million yuan ($83 million) in 1980 (Lee, 1994). The pouring financial resources led to rapid television development in this phase. The number of TV stations in 1986 was almost six times that in 1983 while TV set ownership per 100 households rose from 88 % in1983 to 103% in 1986 and the TV audience size expanded from 400 million in 1983 to 580 million in 1986(Yu, 1990).
Third Phase (1987-90)
This phase, studied meticulously in the Western world, saw the most dramatic social changes in China, which resulted from the media development itself. While maintaining the liberalizing trends in the first two phases, China's media system in this phase gained greater momentum, trying to obtain freedom of press and political independence rather than just petitioning for them in the previous two phases. Action for independence and democracy became a reality rather than just lip service.
World Economic Herald, started in Shanghai and banned in 1989, was considered as a pioneer in the West in this process of "peaceful evolution." There also appeared Western-minded opinion leaders like Fang Lizhi and Qin Benli who were encouraged by then-Premier Zhao Ziyang’s work report in1987 that did not mention the media’s role as an official mouthpiece (Polumbaum, 1990). The results reflected in journalistic operations were a more diversified style of news reporting and a greater openness about information. Bad news and critical reports (negative reports), seldom seen since 1957, began to re-appear in the media (Polumbuam, 1990). In this period, the negative reports has always comprised more than 10 % of the total number of news stories for some major newspapers such as People’s Daily, Jiefang Daily, Wenhui Daily and China Daily, China’s only national English-language newspaper (Guo, 1993). The increase of the negative reports was taken as a sign on the media side to push for more reforms in the government work and to ask for more freedom and independence in their media practice, which, to some degree, led to the massive student’s demonstration in 1989.
Besides, media development in this phase also was motivated by the influx of external influences in the form of "cultural imperialism" (Stevenson, 1994). Foreign broadcasts from the Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) enjoyed much popularity among Chinese audiences and exercised great influence on them, which the Chinese government accused of trying to undermine the stability in China through propaganda (Guo, 1993). Major influences also came from the inflow of official imported foreign media culture such as movies, soap operas, foreign news and even talks shows and sit-coms (Chan, 1994). The foreign programs on Shanghai Television Station (STV), the second largest in China, increased almost four times from 1985 ( 11.8%) to 1990 (42.6%) (Chan, 1994).
SECOND PERIOD WITH COMPETITION MODEL ( 1991 ~ PRESENT)
After the Tiananmen Square Event in 1989, many Western media scholars and politicians predicted a deadlock in the media development in China. Ironic as it may be, a new competition model of media development debuted in Shanghai. The new model went into operation on October 28, 1992, when an independent 24-hour radio station known as Oriental Radio Station (ORS) was established and an independent TV station, Oriental Television Station (OTV), was set up three months later, on January 18, 1993.
The establishment of ORS and OTV has ended the monopoly history of one radio station and one television station in one Chinese city since 1949. These new stations started fierce competition, on an equal basis, in the market, with the existing Shanghai People's Radio Station (SPRS) and Shanghai Television Station (STV).
Advertising Competition
The competition, the essence of the new media model, first got intensified in the advertising revenues which became the bulk of income for broadcast stations in Shanghai following the end of government subsidies in 1993 (Steitmatter, 1994). This is especially true for ORS and OTV, which started operations with bank loans rather than government subsidies.
Of course, competition for advertising, different from that in the West, still retains Chinese characteristics ("Guo Qing"), a vague term used to describe anything particular to China and that can't be explained with Western notions. Instead of competing for greater number of clients and ads, STV and OTV are vying for only the richest customers, as the economically vibrant Shanghai has far more advertisers lining up than there is air time for sale. The Head of the Chief Editor's Office at OTV, said, "The demand for ad time far surpasses the supply. So our real competition is for richer clients--foreign-funded companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble--that can pay premium rates and guarantee long-term contracts" (Streitmatter, 1994).
Because of this, competition has led to a sharp increase in ad revenues for all stations. STV doubled its ad revenue from 1991 to 1994 while OTV jumped to 150 million ($20 million) in 1993 from zero. The same is true with SPRS and ORS. Though the increase margins of advertising revenues for these media have become somewhat smaller, the advertising revenues have always been on the rise till now (Xie, 1998).
Despite the “soft” competition, a keen competition still follows for higher ratings, which are released on a monthly basis by an independent agency, Shanghai Urban and Rural Sampling Team. These monthly ratings, ignored by media and advertisers before 1990, received great attention when ad competition started, because ad rates now are based primarily on these ratings.
Lively Styles
Competition for the advertising pie inevitably resulted in journalistic reforms of reporting styles and programming. To end the dominance of STV and SPRS, OTV and ORS improved timeliness and focused on lively coverage of news reports. Reporters were dispatched to the fields in the locality, other provinces in China and even abroad for international coverage. Western reporting techniques such as radio actualities and TV voice-overs and standups were introduced to Chinese audiences. Instead of just reading news scripts prepared in advance, common before 1990, radio and TV reporters now often provide spot news (including live reports), reporting news stories from the field just as their Western counterparts do (Streitmatter, 1994). In 1997, as shown in Table 2, spots news consisted of more than 60% of STV and OTV's news programs.
Table 2 Spot News in STV's and OTV's
| STV | OTV | |
| Total News Items | 270 | 268 |
| Spot News | 167 | 171 |
| Percentage of Total | 61.2 | 63.8 |
The counting is based on the "composite week," selected randomly by XU Xiaowei from December 1 to 29, 1997.
STV, on the other hand, makes full use of its rich human resources to add variety to its programming. In September 1995, STV premiered an English channel to cater to the needs of increasing foreign population in Shanghai. The channel broadcasts four hours a day, including news, features, foreign movies, weather reports and ads.
Phone-in hotlines and magazine shows also are gaining popularity. SPRS's phone-in program, "990 Citizens and Society," which started in 1993, has become so popular that national and local officials often join the phone talk and discussed strategic policies with ordinary citizens over phones. During his visit to Shanghai, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Mr. XU Kuangdi, the mayor of Shanghai also became the guest speakers of the Program and talked with eight ers via the hotlines.
OTV's magazine show "Dongfeng 110" covered actual criminal cases.Not only is it produced with the Shanghai police, but it features a uniformed officer as an anchorwoman. Another of OTV's groundbreaking programs is a fifty-minute show, "Across the Pacific," which features interviews with Chinese residents now living in the United States. It is a joint venture of OTV and two American companies (Streitmatter, 1994).
TV game shows are also in great demand in Shanghai. The two competing six-minute game shows for STV and OTV are "Great World" ("da shijia") and "Oriental Space" ("dongfeng shikong") that are on air at the same time (8 p.m.) during the weekdays.
Restructuring
Keen competition also calls for a change in the structure of the fast-developing electronic media. In order to raise efficiency and competitiveness and get rid of unqualified employees, and with the approval from the relevant government authorities, the electronic media system underwent an organizational restructuring in early 1995 by the introduction of a producer-responsibility system, much like that in the West and the establishment of specialized stations.
Table 3 Electronic Media Development in Shanghai
| Year | Number of Radio Stations (TV Stations) | Average Daily Broadcasting Hours (For TV Stations, Weekly Hours) |
| 1991 | 3 (4) | 149 ( 256) |
| 1992 | 4 (7) | 182 (345) |
| 1993 | 9 (10) | 263 (512) |
| 1994 | 9 (10) | 281 (586) |
| 1995 | 10 (10) | 285 (597) |
| 1996 | 10 (10) | 298 (662) |
| 1997 | 11 (10) | 307 (669) |
Provided by the Office of the Shanghai Broadcasting Bureau on June 17, 1998.
As is clear from Table 3, the restructuring of the electronic system in Shanghai has resulted in the constant growing of daily broadcasting hours for radio and weekly broadcasting hours for TV. In 1997, these two figures more than doubled these in 1991, Besides, the number of radio and TV stations almost tripled in the seven years. For radio stations, Shanghai now has special stations devoted to music, finance, traffic, opera, sports, story-telling, English audience and so on.
Pressure on newspapers
The vitality within the broadcasting system also puts great pressure on newspapers in Shanghai as radio and TV are pulling away their readers, which means fewer subscription fees and, in the long run, fewer advertisers. In order to compete for more advertising, the 87 newspapers in Shanghai started to expand their pages, as an attempt to increase their information volume and advertising space (Xie, 1998). Since 1995, the three major newspapers, Jiefang Daily, Wenhui Daily and Xinmin Evening News, have constantly expanded their pages. In 1998, Jiefang Daily, the party organ, increased its pages to 20 and Xinmin Evening News, the largest circulating evening newspaper in China, prints 32 pages daily while Wenhui Daily, mainly targeting the intellectuals, rolls off 20 pages each day.
The establishment of newspaper groups is another way out for newspapers to enhance their competitiveness against the electronic media. Following the three newspaper groups in Guangzhou and two newspaper groups in Beijing, Shanghai is preparing to merge Xinmin Evening News and Wenhui Daily to form the largest newspaper group in China. The purposes of these newspaper groups, as Mr. XU Guangchun, the deputy chief of the Central Publicity Department in charge of all the media in China, said, are to expand the influences and strengthen the economic vigor of the Party’s newspapers so as to keep the Party’s newspapers dominant in the news reporting (Xie, 1998).
DISCUSSION
Media in China have developed beyond recognition since 1978 and it is a mixed process earmarked by political conservatism and economic liberalization. In the past, a political campaign in China would normally stifle the intellectual inspiration and prohibited all the relevant activities, whatever the nature. However, during the past two decades, political conservatism as reflected in the three political campaigns against "Spiritual Pollution," "Bourgeois Liberalization" and "Peaceful Evolution" did not slow down the development of the media system in China, but rather further promoted the whole development, in the forms of media reforms, restructuring and the increased amount of media information.
This, of course, stimulated the economic liberalization, resulting in the form of the economic independence of the media in China with its increasing pie of advertising revenue and complete end of the government subsidy in 1993. The enormous advertising revenues have certainly poured great economic input into the media system in China, which in turn edged off the political conservatism and made it possible for all the journalistic reforms as described in the three first periods.
Therefore, to some degree, political conservatism and economic liberalization as reflected in the media development in China have been two inter-stimulating factors that have contributed to the fast development of the media system in China.
This may sound contradictory and even unacceptable to most Western scholars and journalists who are used to a different set of concepts and systems in regard to media development, but this is a true reflection of the cultural values and the current political system in China. As former U.S. Ambassador Winston Lord concludes, "As so often in China, contradictions reflect reality. China is on the move. But the very speed of its pace and rigors of its course will require it to apply the brakes often" (Duan, 1988).
The competitive Shanghai Model in the Second Period of media development, a further effort to reform the media system, has proven to be a kind of “Special Economic Zone (experiment)” for the media development in China. The experience of the Shanghai Model is now radiating across whole China. Though the journalistic reforms may appear in a different forms in other parts of China, the essence of competition still dominate (Xie, 1998).
Despite the aggressive reforms and development of the media system in China, the media system itself still remains within a conservative framework of Communist politics in accordance with the indigenous cultural values in China, which may be subject to constant external influences but maintaining its own characteristics.
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