In recent years, many reality television formats have been transplanted into China and have become top-ranked shows under the influence of the Korean Wave. In order to unravel the complexity of propaganda in popular culture, this thesis focuses on analyzing China's adaptation of transnational television formats in central and private stations. I excavate how China tries to unify the nation and build the party-state's hegemonic status by way of disseminating political messages in popular media, as well as the state's governance of the influences of globalization and foreign ideas in domestic productions. I also put forth that foreign ideas conveyed in recent formats shed light on issues in China such as class and ethnicity, audiences' ambivalent reception of propagandist programs, and the exportation of China's formats. The genre of reality TV, including production and reception, discloses tension and collaboration between state and commercial TV, the local and the global, and within the Chinese community.

by Wong Yan Chau, Christina. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-186). / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.2 / Chapter II. --- Historical Background --- p.5 / Chapter III. --- A Review of the Related Literature --- p.14 / Chapter A. --- The Culture Industry Approach --- p.15 / Chapter B. --- The Liberal-Pluralist Approach --- p.26 / Chapter C. --- The Technological Approach --- p.31 / Chapter IV. --- The Theoretical Perspective --- p.36 / Chapter V. --- Methodological Approach to Study --- p.42 / Chapter A. --- Content Analysis of Lyrical Messages --- p.42 / Chapter 1. --- Method --- p.42 / Chapter 2. --- Data --- p.43 / Chapter 3. --- Analytic Framework of the Textual Analysis --- p.45 / Chapter B. --- Analysis of Rock Music within Hegemony --- p.48 / Chapter 1. --- Method --- p.48 / Chapter 2. --- Data --- p.50 / Chapter VI. --- Meanings in Rock Music --- p.52 / Chapter A. --- Themes in each fictional mode --- p.52 / Chapter B. --- Thematic content of Rock Music --- p.54 / Chapter 1. --- The Ironic Mode --- p.54 / Chapter 2. --- The Mimetic Mode --- p.64 / Chapter a. --- Phenomena of Identity Crisis --- p.64 / Chapter i. --- Loss of direction --- p.65 / Chapter ii. --- Roots-seeking --- p.68 / Chapter iii. --- Alternating identity --- p.69 / Chapter iv. --- Alienation --- p.71 / Breakaway --- p.71 / A Stranger in the City --- p.74 / Chapter b. --- Outlook on Life --- p.76 / Chapter c. --- Social Problems --- p.79 / Chapter i. --- War --- p.79 / Chapter ii. --- Incivility --- p.81 / Chapter d. --- The Experience of Growing Up --- p.82 / Chapter i. --- Anti-patriarchism --- p.82 / Chapter ii. --- Wandering --- p.83 / Chapter iii. --- The Loss of Childhood --- p.84 / Chapter e. --- Love --- p.85 / Chapter i. --- Yearning for love --- p.85 / Chapter ii. --- Frustrations with love --- p.86 / Chapter iii. --- Wild love --- p.88 / Chapter iv. --- Inauthentic love --- p.90 / Chapter 3. --- The Leadership Mode --- p.93 / Chapter a. --- The Exploratory Spirit --- p.93 / Chapter b. --- Individuality and Non-Conformity --- p.96 / Chapter c. --- The Authentic Self --- p.98 / Chapter 4. --- The Romantic Mode --- p.102 / Chapter a. --- Nostalgia for a Glorious Past --- p.102 / Chapter b. --- Anarchy in the Demonic World --- p.105 / Chapter c. --- Union with nature --- p.107 / Chapter d. --- The Pastoral Utopia --- p.111 / Chapter e. --- Fictional Characters and Objects Speaking --- p.112 / Chapter 5. --- The Mythic Mode --- p.117 / Chapter C. --- The World View of Rock Music --- p.120 / Chapter VII. --- The Relations of Rock Music to Hegemony --- p.125 / Chapter A. --- Messages of Rock and the Hegemony --- p.125 / Chapter B. --- Music as a Contested Terrain --- p.130 / Chapter 1. --- The Hegemonic Power: Cooptation and Marginalization --- p.130 / Chapter 2. --- The Deviant Culture: Struggle by Means of adaptation and negotiation --- p.140 / Chapter VIII. --- Conclusion --- p.155 / Chapter IX. --- Limitations of the Study --- p.158 / Chapter X. --- Future Studies on Rock Music --- p.161 / Notes --- p.165 / Bibliography --- p.175 / Discography --- p.185 / Appendix 1. The Sample of Rock Songs --- p.187

Countries around the world are increasingly making use of public diplomacy methods in order to advance their interests and garner favour with foreign publics, with the aim of creating 'soft power'. One of the most direct methods of doing such is through state-sponsored media outlets, which serve as government mouthpieces with the ability to speak directly to foreign populations. Such practices have recently gained more attention from Western practitioners and academics due to their increased use by countries like Russia and China, and especially in regards to their increasing media presence around the globe. However, this ignores the fact that countries like the United States have been using such outlets since the mid-1900s in openly propagandistic attempts to 'win hearts and minds. In order to understand the practices and ideologies used by such media outlets in their quest to influence foreign publics and create soft power, this research combines a content analysis with a Discourse-Historical Approach to critical discourse studies of two state-sponsored radio programmes, China Radio International and Voice of America, broadcast in March 2016. Of particular interest is the ideology and tactics used to portray countries such as China, the United States, and other countries into which these programmes are broadcast. The results demonstrate that cultural and media values feature subtly but significantly in these programmes, offering justification for their respective governments' actions, while also being used to condemn actions of other countries. Furthermore, the results reveal a hierarchical approach to coverage of countries, with many countries being reduced to inactive bystanders in global affairs.