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Spring Festival Gala

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Spring Festival Gala
The Construction of a United Great China

A Comparative Study of the CCTV Spring Festival Galas, 1984-86 and 2004-06

Xiaoyan Xu

Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts
In
Political Science

Dr. Timothy W. Luke, Chair
Dr. Scott G. Nelson
Dr. Yannis Stivachtis

June 7, 2007
Blacksburg, VA

Keywords: China, TV, CCTV, Spring Festival, ideology, nationalism, media, symbolic politics Copyright 2007, Xiaoyan Xu

The Construction of a United Great China
A Comparative Study of the CCTV Spring Festival Galas, 1984-86 and 2004-06
Xiaoyan Xu

Abstract

The Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, is the most important festival in China. On every Lunar New Year’s Eve since 1983, the state-run China Central TV (CCTV), the only national TV station in China, has held a celebrating gala. This thesis attempts to examine the CCTV Spring Festival Galas as a case study of China’s statist nationalism.
The research questions of this thesis are: what techniques and technologies have the
CCTV Spring Festival Galas used to construct a Chinese national space? How have the
CCTV Spring Festival Galas describe the Chinese national space? And what changes have taken place in these techniques and technologies as well as in the descriptions? To answer these questions, this thesis conducts a comparative research, comparing both the commonalities and differences between the galas of 1984-86 and those of 2004-06.
Employing an interpretative textual analysis approach, it analyzes the videos of these six years’ galas and explores the political meanings of words and programs in the galas. This thesis finds that in order to imagine a united Chinese national space, the galas mainly represent China in terms of classes, ethnic groups and places. With the presence of minorities and people from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, the galas focus on


References: Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism Business Wire. 2005. “Speedera and ChinaCache Jointly Deliver Live Streaming of China’s National TV Spring Festival.” (Feb China Central Television. 2003. Chunjie Lianhuan Wanhui Nanwang Jinxiao: 1984-1993 [The Spring Festival Gala Unforgettable Tonight: 1984-1993] China Central Television. 2004. 2004 Nian Zhongyang Dianshi Tai Chunjie Lianhuan Wanhui [2004 CCTV Spring Festival Gala] China Central Television. 2005. 2005 Zhongyang Dianshi Tai Chunjie Lianhuan Wanhui [2005 CCTV Spring Festival Gala] China Central Television. 2006. 2006 Zhongyang Dianshi Tai Chunjie Lianhuan Wanhui: Nanwang Jinxiao[2006 CCTV Spring Festival Gala: Unforgetable Tonight]. De Burgh, Hugo. 2000. “Chinese Journalism and the Academy: the Politics and Pedagogy of the Media.” Journalism Studies Fang, Yew-Jin. 1994. “’Riots’ and Demonstrations in the Chinese Press: A Case Study of Language and Ideology.” Discourse & Society Gao, Mobo Changfan. 2004. “The Rise of Neo-nationalism and the New Left: A Postcolonial and Postmodern Perspective.” In Leong H Goldman, Merle, Perry Link, and Su Wei. 1993. “China’s Intellectuals in the Deng Era: Loss of Identity with the State.” In Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S Gries, Peter Hays. 2005. “Nationalism and Chinese Foreign Policy.” In Yong Deng and Fei-Ling Wang, eds., China Rising: Power and Motivation in Chinese Foreign
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