This thesis analyses the television program known as 'Super Girls', which aired on Hunan Satellite Television from 2004-2006 in the Peoples' Republic of China. In the West, this program is sometimes referred to as 'Chinese Idol' because of its similarities to the globally popular television format, 'Idol'. Although 'Super Girls' shares many similarities with 'Idol' there are also equally important differences. This thesis examines these differences as a way of theorising the how the program negotiates the localisation of a Western television format. First, the program is placed in the broader context of the increased liberalisation and commercialisation of the Chinese television industry. Secondly, the thesis analyses the concept of format television and presents the logic behind the global shift toward producing this type of programming. Next, specific aspects of Super Girls are analysed in detail to bring out how the program functioned culturally in the context of China. These aspects of Super Girls include, the way the program represents the changing role and potential of television from the PRC to contribute to negotiations on Chinese identity that take place among the various symbolic universes of Cultural China, including the global Chinese Diaspora. The thesis also explores the nature of the celebrities produced by the contest through isolating their meaning and significance within the Chinese context. The thesis argues that the contest winners are celebrated for their individuality and come to stand for the rise of 'ordinary power'. The thesis also examines the ways in which Super Girls embraces its audience through new modes of address and offering new types of agency for its audience. As a result, Super Girls offers insight into how Chinese culture is now shaped by a rise of 'ordinary empowerment' where the bottom-up cultures are hybridised with the traditional high culture in television broadcasting.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis analyses the television program known as 'Super Girls', which aired on Hunan Satellite Television from 2004-2006 in the Peoples' Republic of China. In the West, this program is sometimes referred to as 'Chinese Idol' because of its similarities to the globally popular television format, 'Idol'. Although 'Super Girls' shares many similarities with 'Idol' there are also equally important differences. This thesis examines these differences as a way of theorising the how the program negotiates the localisation of a Western television format. First, the program is placed in the broader context of the increased liberalisation and commercialisation of the Chinese television industry. Secondly, the thesis analyses the concept of format television and presents the logic behind the global shift toward producing this type of programming. Next, specific aspects of Super Girls are analysed in detail to bring out how the program functioned culturally in the context of China. These aspects of Super Girls include, the way the program represents the changing role and potential of television from the PRC to contribute to negotiations on Chinese identity that take place among the various symbolic universes of Cultural China, including the global Chinese Diaspora. The thesis also explores the nature of the celebrities produced by the contest through isolating their meaning and significance within the Chinese context. The thesis argues that the contest winners are celebrated for their individuality and come to stand for the rise of 'ordinary power'. The thesis also examines the ways in which Super Girls embraces its audience through new modes of address and offering new types of agency for its audience. As a result, Super Girls offers insight into how Chinese culture is now shaped by a rise of 'ordinary empowerment' where the bottom-up cultures are hybridised with the traditional high culture in television broadcasting.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

This study proceeds on the assumption that maternal discourse in the West, according to Kristeva, is repressed, which has resulted in the serious fracture of the mother-daughter relationship and seeks to isolate a restorative model in contemporary Chinese culture. Chapter One explores the feminist claim that this fractured relationship is the result of patriarchal oppressions (and the cause of twice as many women than men suffering depression) and attempts to reconcile feminist psychology with Kristeva‟s thesis that abjection per se is the cause of widespread depression among women. The next chapter delineates the features of a cross-cultural feminist analysis, which includes exploring notions of Foucaultian and Lacanian discourse, by situating gender as a tool within the context of feminist and postcolonial perspectives. An argument is made that cinema is a privileged site to cull material from which to probe discourses on m/other and the thesis of a sunken maternal metaphor across all cinematic genres is demonstrated. Contemporary Chinese culture is scrutinized for possibly curative discourses and Bourdieu‟s idea of „rebel‟ and „orthodox‟ discourse models is employed to this end. After finding dominant discourse on gender in contemporary Chinese societies unsatisfactory for this purpose, I examine three contemporary Chinese films, with Gong Li as the female lead, in which I unearth two rebel discourses on m/otherhood. I argue that men and boys need to be encouraged to develop their aptitude and skills to nurture and care. This will allow women much needed space and time to come to terms with themselves and their own needs. In short, women and especially m/others, worn-out from guilt and expectations, are desperate for nurturance themselves.

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

abstract / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / abstract / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Chan, Siu-han. / Thesis submitted in: July 2004. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-193). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / 論文摘要 --- p.ii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iii / CONTENTS --- p.v / INTRODUCTION / Chapter 1.1 --- Empirical Puzzles and Theoretical Concern --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Cultural Scene in Hong Kong --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Defining the New Wave Cinema --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4 --- The Objectives of the Thesis --- p.12 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- In Quest of Theoretical Perspective and Analytical Framework / Chapter 2.1 --- Existing Studies of the New Wave Cinema --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Study of Popular Culture in Hong Kong --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3 --- Culture Industry: The Approach of the Frankfurt School --- p.28 / Chapter 2.4 --- The Elective Affinity of Culture Industry with Hong Kong Society --- p.33 / Chapter 2.5 --- Analytical Framework --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- The Anxiety of Political Subjectivity / Chapter 3.1 --- Prelude --- p.45 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Perturbed Hong Kong People --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3 --- The Hong Kong Diaspora --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4 --- The Negative Projection on the Colonizers --- p.60 / Chapter 3.5 --- The Ambivalence Towards the Motherland´ؤChina --- p.66 / Chapter 3.6 --- Discourse on Political Modernization: The Anxiety of Political Subjectivity --- p.86 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- The Contradiction of Societal Modernization / Chapter 4.1 --- Prelude --- p.89 / Chapter 4.2 --- Looking back at the Pre-modernized Social Order --- p.91 / Chapter 4.3 --- Rethinking the Entanglement of the Old and the New --- p.102 / Chapter 4.4 --- Representing the Modernized New Social Order --- p.110 / Chapter 4.5 --- Discourse on Societal Modernization: The Contradiction of Societal Modernization --- p.123 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- The Fragility of Hong Kong Cultural Identity / Chapter 5.1 --- Prelude --- p.126 / Chapter 5.2 --- Historical Memories as Cultural Receptacles --- p.128 / Chapter 5.3 --- The Spatialized Cultural Consciousness --- p.136 / Chapter 5.4 --- Urbanism as the Quality of Hong Kong society --- p.144 / Chapter 5.5 --- The Chinese Tradition in Present Day Hong Kong --- p.151 / Chapter 5.6 --- The Hybridized Everyday Popular Culture --- p.157 / Chapter 5.7 --- Discourse on Cultural Modernization: The Fragility of Hong Kong Cultural Identity --- p.164 / CONCLUSION / Chapter 6.1 --- The Planned Tragic Vision in Culture Industry --- p.167 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Aestheticization of Social Reality in Culture Industry --- p.171 / Chapter 6.3 --- The Demise of the New Wave Cinema in Hong Kong Culture Industry --- p.178 / New Wave Cinema: A Listing --- p.182 / REFERERNCES --- p.184