Conversation

04.11.18

China’s Communist Party Takes (Even More) Control of the Media

Stanley Rosen, Chris Fenton & more
China’s Communist Party made moves last month to solidify and formalize its (already substantial) control over the country’s media. China’s main state-run broadcasters are to be consolidated into a massive new “Voice of China” under the management...

China to Select Theaters Nationwide to Show Propaganda Films

AP
CNBC
The state will boost the box office of these propaganda movies with group sales, discounted tickets and other financial backing.

Disney Can Stream Its Movies in China Again, Thanks to Alibaba

Alanna Petroff
CNN
Disney is trying again to get its movies and TV programs into China.

China's Two Largest Tech Companies Sign a Deal over the West's Biggest Music

Andrew Flanagan
NPR
Among the deals being signed that shape the way the world experiences culture, a new partnership will exert a great influence on the flow of content from the world's three remaining major record labels to an enormous and growing marketplace —...

Is New Transformers a Sign of China’s Hollywood Fatigue?

Sherry Fei Ju and Charles Clover
Financial Times
Like a high-flying space robot shot out of the sky, the Transformers film franchise has crash-landed in China—singeing a promising Hollywood business model in the process.

Books

05.02.17

China’s Mobile Economy

Winston Ma
China’s Mobile Economy: Opportunities in the Largest and Fastest Information Consumption Boom is a cutting-edge text that spotlights the digital transformation in China. Organized into three major areas of the digital economy within China, this ground-breaking book explores the surge in e-commerce of consumer goods, the way in which multi-screen and mobile Internet use has increased in popularity, and the cultural emphasis on the mobile Internet as a source of lifestyle- and entertainment-based content. Targeted at the global business community, this lucid and engaging text guides business leaders, investors, investment banking professionals, corporate advisors, and consultants in grasping the challenges and opportunities created by China’s emerging mobile economy, and its debut on the global stage.The year of 2014-15 marks the most important inflection point in the history of the Internet in China. Almost overnight, the world’s largest digitally-connected middle class went both mobile and multi-screen (smart phone, tablets, laptops, and more), with huge implications for how consumers behave and what companies need to do to successfully compete. As next-generation mobile devices and services take off, China’s strength in this arena will transform it from a global “trend follower” to a “trend setter.”Understand what the digital transformation in China is, and impact on global capital markets, foreign investors, consumer companies, and the global economy as a whole.Explore the e-commerce consumption boom in the context of the Chinese market.Understand the implications of the multi-screen age and mobile Internet for China’s consumersSee how mobile Internet use, its focus on lifestyle and entertainment is aligned with today’s Chinese culture.Learn about the mobile entertainment habits of China’s millennial generation and the corresponding new advertisement approaches.The development of China’s mobile economy is one of the most important trends that will reshape the future of business, technology, and society both in China and the world. China's Mobile Economy introduces you to the digital transformation in China, and explains how this transformation has the potential to transform both China and the global consumer landscape. —John Wiley & Sons, Inc.{chop}

China’s Hottest New Boy Band Is Actually Made up of Five Androgynous Girls

Zheping Huang
Quartz
Acrush is made up of five women mostly in their early twenties, who all have edgy short hairstyles and dress like a bunch of boyish hearthrobs.

Viacom’s Paramount Rejected in Potential $1 Billion Film Deal with China

Claire Atkinson
MarketWatch
Viacom’s Paramount Pictures movie unit has failed to strike a deal with two Chinese groups to receive $1 billion in financing for a fresh series of films, according to several Hollywood sources who spoke to The Post.

Missile Row Drives Korean Culture Underground in China

Adam Jourdan and Joyce Lee
Reuters
The mainland chill on Korean content that follows Seoul’s decision to deploy a missile defense system is driving Chinese fans to get their “K-culture” fixes on peer-to-peer platforms instead of mainstream sites.

Books

03.16.17

Hollywood Made in China

Aynne Kokas
China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 ignited a race to capture new global media audiences. Hollywood moguls began courting Chinese investors to create entertainment on an international scale—from behemoth theme parks to blockbuster films. Hollywood Made in China examines these new collaborations, where the distinctions between Hollywood’s “dream factory” and Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream” of global influence become increasingly blurred. With insightful policy analysis, ethnographic research, and interviews with CEOs, directors, and film workers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, Aynne Kokas offers an unflinching look at China’s new role in the global media industries. A window into the partnerships with Chinese corporations that now shape Hollywood, this book will captivate anyone who consumes commercial media in the twenty-first century. —University of California Press{chop}

China Is Making Life Hard for South Korea Because of an Antimissile System in over 40 Petty Ways

Echo Huang
Quartz
Relations between China and South Korea have been icy of late, to say the least.

China’s Quota on Hollywood Film Imports Set to Expand, State Media Says

Patrick Brzeski
Hollywood Reporter
After an “extremely cordial” call between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a government-backed news outlet projected an expansion to China’s film quota and a greater share of box-office revenue for Hollywood studios.

China’s Transgender Oprah

Economist
As an army colonel who became a woman, she exemplifies a society in flux

Could Jane Zhang Become China’s First Global Pop Star?

Grace Tsoi
BBC
Zhang's latest single breaks the mould of China's pop industry and could help her become its first global superstar

“Messy, Mindless, Illogical”: Chinese Moviegoers Review “Great Wall”

Josh Horwitz and Echo Huang
Quartz
One of the most hyped-up film productions of the year is shaping up to be a box office success, and a critical bomb

China to Review Film Limits as Box Office Growth Slows

Lisa Richwine and Adam Jourdan
Reuters
China's box office is set to end the year with its smallest growth in a decade

Mooted $75 Million Oscar Trade Sets Up Record China Soccer Spend

Tariq Panja
Bloomberg
Chinese teams set to continue soccer spending spree in window; Spending comes amid warning from Communist Party newspaper

As 'The Great Wall’ Hits Theaters in China, Hollywood is Watching

Erich Schwartzel
Wall Street Journal
Movie industry sees $150 million picture starring Matt Damon as harbinger for future U.S.-China co-productions

WWE’s China Hopes Rest on Bin Wang’s Big Shoulders

Jessica Toonkel
Reuters
Wang will be joined by seven other Chinese athletes hand-picked by WWE Inc, in the hope that one of them will become the first Chinese WWE "superstar"

S.Korea Says China is Retaliating Against Its Missile-Defense System by Taking Aim at Korean Dramas

Echo Huang
Quartz
China has turned down Korean stars’ applications to perform in the country and has not let any Korean movies screen in the mainland

China’s Trump Prepares for His Close-up

Didi Kirsten Tatlow
New York Times
Spray tans and hair dye: the transformation of a retired music professor into China's Trump impersonator

China, Meet Hockey. Russia, Meet a Huge Untapped Market

Tal Pinchevsky
New York Times
When Beijing was named the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics, China immediately became hockey’s brave new frontier

China Passes Law to Ensure Films ‘Serve the People and Socialism’

Alan Evans
Guardian
First law governing the country’s film industry targets box-office fraud and says film-makers must have excellent moral integrity

China Long March Film: US Glamour Model’s Role Draws Ire

Jeff Li
BBC
State broadcasters touched a nerve among its viewers by casting an actress and model seen as "anti-China" in a documentary about the Long March

Did a Story About Rape Take Down a Chinese TV Show?

Grace Tsoi
BBC
A popular TV show in China has been cancelled after featuring the mother and grandmother of a young woman who was repeatedly raped, but never reported it

What It’s Like Playing Golf in China

Scott Cendrowski
Fortune
As if the land of 1.4 billion people wasn’t already exerting influence on enough global markets, China is now a big part of golf’s future

Netflix's New, Brilliant China Strategy: Stay Out of the Country

Josh Horwitz
Quartz
Netflix is saying zaijian to China, before it even got a foot in the door.

China’s Real ‘House of Cards’: TV Series Unveils Graft Excess

Ting Shi
Bloomberg
The eight-episode series, called “Always On the Road,” is being beamed daily to hundreds of millions of Chinese homes through Oct. 25 on CCTV’s Channel 1

Dalian Wanda’s Hollywood Event Is Itself a Production

Brooks Barnes
New York Times
"Star Wars" music. Ushers in gold evening gowns. The mayor of Los Angeles. Inside Dalian Wanda's Hollywood event.

Chinese Billionaire Wang Jianlin Descends on Hollywood

Patrick Brzeski
Hollywood Reporter
Wanda's gala event at LACMA is expected to attract A-list stars and executives, as the company's outspoken chairman announces a major new production incentive in China.

Dating Shows are a Massive Hit in China--and They're Changing Traditional Views on Love and Marriage

Pan Wang
Quartz
Is “I’d rather weep in a BMW than laugh on a bike” becoming the norm?

Anger on Streets in China as Football Team Suffer Shock Defeat by War-Torn Syria

Tom Phillips
Guardian
Disgruntled fans demand that president of football association is sacked as hopes for a football revolution suffer a blow

Peyton Manning is Looking for the Yao Ming of Football in China

Bloomberg
Former quarterback says ‘no-brainer’ for NFL to play in China

Odeon And UCI Cinemas Sold to China-Owned Firm

BBC
The Cinema group has been bought by AMC, owned by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda....

Alibaba Film Chief Grants First Interview: What China Can Do for Hollywood

Patrick Brzeski
Hollywood Reporter
In her first sit-down since becoming Jack Ma's top global film exec, Zhang Wei reveals what China's web giant can offer Tinseltown.

Psychedelic Video Sings Praises of China's Five Year-Plan

Agence France-Presse
"If you wanna know what China's gonna do, best pay attention to the shisanwu."

China’s Best Obama Impersonator Looks the Part, But Speaks ‘Fake English’

Emily Rauhala
Washington Post
For Xiao Jiguo, a Chinese Obama impersonator, it’s all about the eyebrows.

Yes, He Can: Sichuan’s Answer to Barack Obama Cashes in on His Moment in the Sun

Keira Lu Huang
South China Morning Post
A man from the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan has been making a living by looking like US President Barack Obama.

China Box Office: 'Lost in Hong Kong' Surges Past $200 Million

Patrick Brzeski
Hollywood Reporter
The film will soon surpass its predecessor, 'Lost in Thailand', which grossed $208 million in 2012, the most ever for a Chinese film at the time.

China Looks to Hollywood

Nina Huang
Diplomat
Chinese firms are stepping up their investments in Hollywood, to protect their own market share.

China's Biggest, Yet Most Unlikely Film of This Summer

JUSTIN BERGMAN
Mashable
As of Sept. 12,Monster Hunthad grossed a whopping RMB 2.428 billion (US$380.95 million).

China’s Film Industry Is Gaining on Hollywood

Bilge Ebiri
Businessweek
Chinese audiences are growing, more theaters are being built, and the movies are getting better.

China Box Office Booms with $284-Million Week; Foreign Films Remain Shut Out

Julie Makinen
Los Angeles Times
The depth and variety of local films suggests growth in China’s domestic production.

The Netflix of China Is Invading the US With Smartphones

Cade Metz
Wired
LeTV launched its Internet video streaming service three years before Netflix (2004 versus 2007). 

Culture

11.07.14

‘The Training Wheels Are Coming Off,’ But That’s Not Necessarily A Good Thing

Jonathan Landreth
Making a movie is a wild ride no matter where you are in the world, a process fraught with ego and pride; wobblier, riskier, yet potentially more lucrative, the bigger and faster it gets.With U.S. gross sales of movie tickets basically flat, up just...

Chinese Media Accuse Japanese Manga Star Doraemon of Subverting Youth

Justin McCurry
Guardian
“Doraemon is a part of Japan’s efforts of exporting its national values and achieving its cultural strategy; this is an undisputed fact,” the local communist party newspaper Chengdu Daily said in an editorial.

Media

10.10.14

China Bans Law-Breaking Actors From Movies and Television

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
Amid an ongoing government campaign against drugs, prostitution, and other moral vices, a powerful government agency has reportedly issued new regulations banning actors with histories of drug use or prostitution from appearing in movies and...

Sinica Podcast

10.03.14

Chinese Martial Arts

Jeremy Goldkorn, David Moser & more from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Jeremy Goldkorn and David Moser are pleased to be joined by Sascha Matuszak, a Chengdu-based expert on Chinese martial arts and the producer of a new documentary on Chinese MMA (mixed martial arts), a competitive tournament...

The ‘Facekini’

Nick Kirkpatrick
Washington Post
: From the beaches of China to pages of a fashion magazine.

‘Transformers’ in China: The Hidden Cost of a $300 Million Hit

Kim Masters
Hollywood Reporter
The record $317 million that Paramount’s new Transformers grossed in China in 31 days is impressive, but the struggle the studio has endured to collect a mere 25 percent of that total shows that mining gold behind the Great Wall is a daunting task.

China’s Wanda Plans to Buy ‘One or Two Large International Entertainment Companies’

Abid Rahman
Hollywood Reporter
Amid consolidation chatter in the U.S., the owner of exhibition giant AMC says it plans to become a “real” multinational company and “intensify” its investment in the entertainment sector globally.

Features

05.29.14

Why Defenders of Killer Whales Are Worried About China

Leah Thompson
Late last year, the circus came to Hengqin. Trained elephants from Thailand, Russian jugglers and monkies, Kazakh horses, Bengal tigers, and Cuban acrobats descended on the once-sleepy island near Macau for China’s “First International Circus...

China Breaks Into Las Vegas Show Business

Michelle Rindels
Associated Press
The privetely funded, wordless, loosely plotted "PANDA!" is China's latest soft power incarnate. 

Why China is Censoring ‘The Big Bang Theory’ but not ‘Game of Thrones’

Lily Kuo
Quartz
While authorities speak of “cleaning the web” of offensive content, they may be more worried about reminding the country’s flourishing private internet firms that the government is still in charge.

China Forces Four U.S. TV Shows Off Web

Paul Mozur
Wall Street Journal
'Big Bang Theory' and 'Good Wife' are among programs taken down from popular video streaming sites Sohu, Youku Tudou, and Tencent, as government control of the Internet and over foreign entertainment content intensifies.

Media

01.07.14

Grand Theft China: Tase Corrupt Officials in New Online Game

Official corruption in China is a serious matter: In January 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping openly vowed to tackle it, and a 2013 Pew study found that fifty-three percent of Chinese consider it a “very big problem.” But fighting bribery,...

China 2013 Box Office Surges 27 Percent to $3.6 Billion

Clifford Coonan
Hollywood Reporter
Chinese box office revenue rose $760 million to $3.57 billion, an increase of 27 percent over last year's $2.8 billion (17 billion yuan), data from China's biggest online film review site, Mtime, showed.

How Jimmy Kimmel’s Joke Became an Issue for the White House

Washington Post
Earlier this week, Kimmel aired a segment of his Kids Table, where he asks small children to address complex issues. When asked how the U.S. could solve the $1.3 trillion trade imbalance, one 6-year-old answered “Kill everyone in China.”...

Huge Chinese Theme-Park Project Aims to be the ‘Orlando of China’

Brady MacDonald
Los Angeles Times
The $2-billion marine-based Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park and resort on Hengqin Island is to be connected by bridge to Macau and by ferry to Hong Kong.  

Why Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. Is On Weibo But Not Twitter

Gwynn Guilford
Quartz
Notable is the recent aggressive outreach to Chinese audiences by Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Not only did he visit China for the first time in his life to talk up the film, but Downey also set up a personal account on Sina Weibo.