Media and Digital Communities
New forms of media, especially those in digital forms, dominate the exchange of ideas and culture across all spheres of society in China.
New communities of citizens are emerging around these new technologies of information exchange.
Understanding how technology changes social interactions is crucial to understanding how Chinese society works and how it engages with global media practices.
Researchers in the Centre explore all forms of cultural expression within the arts, entertainment and information industries in order to unpack the complexities of idea dissemination in China.
Current projects being undertaken by researchers in the China Research Centre in this area include:
Fame and Celebrity in China: Political Models, Pop Idols, Sports Stars and National Pride
Researchers: Professor Louise Edwards and Dr. Elaine Jeffreys
Currently little is known about the creation, performance and mobilisation of celebrity and fame in China despite extensive scholarship on other nations. Models of political or moral virtue, commercial success, sporting, musical or dramatic talent, criminal notoriety, or military heroism all feature centrally in people’s lives. Such models are crucial to social cohesion and identity formation as well as to advancing commercial and political interests. This project analyses celebrity as it is manifest, mobilised and performed in China since 1900. It examines the impact of variables such as location, gender, technology and the underlying political and economic structures on celebrity systems.
