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2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

9. Trajectory of Chinese Cultural Diplomacy: The Case of International Co-production of Documentaries

Authors : Gary Rawnsley, Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley, Ming Yu

Published in: Transnational Sites of China’s Cultural Diplomacy

Publisher: Springer Singapore

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the historical development of international co-production of Chinese documentaries. The authors map this history onto a broader contextual discussion of Chinese foreign policy and the development of China’s understanding of cultural diplomacy and soft power.

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Footnotes
1
For further information about these online documentary sites, see Sohu documentary channel: http://​tv.​sohu.​com/​documentary/​; Tencent documentary channel: https://​v.​qq.​com/​x/​channel/​doco; CCTV.com documentary channel: http://​jishi.​cctv.​com; and iQiyi documentary channel: http://​www.​iqiyi.​com/​jilupian/​.
 
2
Beijing Television was established on May 1, 1958, and broadcast its first television program in September the same year. With only one channel, it broadcast twice a week for two to three hours per session (Sun 1989, 210–221).
 
3
Strictly speaking, Stories of the Yangtze River was not a NHK production. It was produced and funded by a Japanese singer-turned-filmmaker, Masashi Sada.
 
4
The equivalent of c. 47.5 million RMB (c. 7.6 million USD) today.
 
5
The Chinese government announced in March 2018 that the CPC’s Propaganda Department will take direct control of broadcasting throughout China, dissolving the SAPPRFT.
 
6
English scripts of the program. The episode is available online: http://​www.​iqiyi.​com/​v_​19rr9zn158.​html.
 
7
The BBC ‘Wild’ series were produced by the BBC Natural History Unit (NHU). Prior to 2008, the titles included Wild Africa (2001), Wild New World (2002), Wild in Your Garden (2003), Wild Down Under (2003), and Wild Caribbean (2007).
 
8
The BBC NHU is a department of the BBC that produces television, radio, and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. For more information, visit its official website: https://​www.​naturalhistoryne​twork.​co.​uk/​bbc-studios-nhu.
 
9
BBC Worldwide Ltd. is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC and is wholly owned by the Corporation. The company was formed to support the BBC public service mission and to supplement the income received by the BBC through the license fee. BBC Worldwide monetizes BBC brands and maximizes profits on its behalf by selling BBC and other British programming for broadcast overseas. For more information, visit its official website: https://​www.​bbcworldwide.​com/​.
 
10
China Television Media, Ltd. (CTV), is a media company holding owned by the CCTV. See CTV website: http://​www.​ctv-media.​com.​cn/​Index.​html.
 
11
SARFT merged with the General Administration of Press and Publications in early 2013 and became the State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT); see Creemers (2015, 60). The government announced in March 2018 that SAPPRFT would be dissolved and the CPC’s Propaganda Department would take direct control of broadcasting throughout China.
 
16
The official website of CICC is: http://​www.​cicc.​org.​cn/​ (in Chinese). The official website of the State Council Information Office is: http://​english.​scio.​gov.​cn/​.
 
17
 
19
‘Advertorial’ usually means a newspaper or magazine advertisement giving information about a product in the style of an editorial or objective journalistic article. Here, the term is borrowed to refer to the way the international media companies receive funding from the Chinese government to produce documentaries to help shape positive images for China internationally.
 
20
The official site for ‘China Revealed’ on NGC Asia is: http://​www.​natgeotv.​com/​asia/​china-revealed.
 
21
Quoted from the official site of China from Above: http://​natgeotv.​com/​asia/​china-from-above/​about.
 
22
An interview with Huang Pingmao, Tencent Office in Beijing, December 19, 2016. The interviewer was Qian Zhao, a member of Ming Yu’s research team.
 
23
The One Belt, One Road program, later known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was launched by Xi Jinping in 2013 during a visit to Kazakhstan and Russia. Planned as an economic ‘belt’ linking China with Western Europe through central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and the Balkans, it complements the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ linking China to the Mediterranean through the Indian subcontinent and the Persian Gulf. The BRI connects China to over 60 countries.
 
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Metadata
Title
Trajectory of Chinese Cultural Diplomacy: The Case of International Co-production of Documentaries
Authors
Gary Rawnsley
Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley
Ming Yu
Copyright Year
2021
Publisher
Springer Singapore
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5592-3_9