Preview

Spring Festival Gala

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
28947 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
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
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    NT1230 Unit 1
    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    NT1230 Unit 1

    1. The general public in the United States will be able to purchase all of the Windows 7 editions in retail stores except Windows 7 Starter – OEM only, Windows 7 Home Basic – Emerging markets only, and Windows 7 Enterprise – Volume only.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Cultural Universals Between United States and China
    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cultural Universals Between United States and China

    There are two similar holidays that are celebrated in both United States and China, New Year’s Day and Chinese New Year’s Day. In both countries, New Year’s Day is celebrated for the passing of the old year and the start of the New Year. Chinese New Year which is also called Spring Festival starts with the New Moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the Full Moon 15 days later. It is celebrated in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household, and the family ancestors as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. During the Chinese New Year, Chinese people decorate the house with red couplets on the doors and they visit each other during this holiday. They will feast on traditional foods like New Year cake and dumplings. New Year’s Day in United States is celebrated on January 1st. It is celebrated with a resolution to get rid of bad habits and start a new one when the clock strikes 12am.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Interpreting Globalised Art
    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Interpreting Globalised Art

    Chin-Tao Wu discussed the globalization of art both from political economic and economic aspects. First of all, with the development of globalization, when the artists create their works of art are divesting and un-limiting increasingly. However, due to different artists have different cultural background, the works of art always have some debate in the arts. It will lead people do not understand, even criticism. In the meanwhile, Chin-Tao Wu gives three women as an example to certificate the increasing number of people inclusion for different cultures. The three women’s works of art has been understood and popular in the world. In addition, Chin-Tao Wu claims although the art is very common in people’s lives and people like to appreciate to art, just rich people can own it.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Wiregrass Festival
    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page

    Wiregrass Festival

    Celebrate the 4th of July with the Fort Rucker Freedom Fest on June 30th! The Wiregrass is invited to Fort Rucker’s Festival Fields on Friday, June 30th from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. for an evening of celebration, food, activities, and fun! An annual tradition for over 20,000 people in the Wiregrass, this is the party of all parties and no party is complete without fireworks; one of the largest in the area. Be sure to bring your lawn chairs and blankets, kick-back and revel in the show. Enjoy a kids’ zone with inflatables and rides, while also enjoying a variety of local and regional vendors and displays. The Army’s MCoE Detachment Band will provide musical entertainment throughout the evening with a patriotic concert starting at 6 p.m. Admission…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Oklahoma City Festival
    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Oklahoma City Festival

    There are three things that are certain to occur in Oklahoma during the spring. One being bad weather, the second is the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and the third being the start of festival and fair season. Oklahoma City has festivals to celebrate the arts, music, and foods that are unique to Oklahoma. The City of Guthrie devotes a whole weekend to the Land Run of 1889 with “89er Days Celebration” and in Bartlesville you will be transported back to Indian Territory of the 1820s during the “Spring Mountain Man Encampment”. There is even a fair solely dedicated to peaches in Stratford and the City of Norman will host its annual “Medieval Fair”. This is the 41st year the city will host the fair. It has grown to be the state’s largest…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How Qing Dynasty Collapse
    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages

    How Qing Dynasty Collapse

    Lee, Khoon Choy Lee. [2005] (2005). Pioneers of Modern China: Understanding the Inscrutable Chinese. World Scientific. ISBN 981-256-618-X, 9789812566188.…

    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    3d Imaging Research Paper
    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    3d Imaging Research Paper

    Technology in relation to the specific area. This means you need to elaborate on how…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Was There a Massacre in Tiananmen Square?
    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Was There a Massacre in Tiananmen Square?

    On June 4, 1989, a large group of students gathered in Tiananmen Square to protest for their right to freedom of speech and democracy. In retaliation, the Chinese government sent martial law to control them. A riot between the troops and the protestors was broadcast across the world and called the ‘Tiananmen Square Massacre’. The Chinese government denies this to be true and calls the event the ‘Tiananmen Square Incident’. BBC footage, witness accounts and journals written about the event suggest a massacre did occur. However, official government sources, and the unreliability of witnesses and media accounts imply that the massacre of the students at Tiananmen Square did not occur.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Communist Manifesto Chapter Summary
    • 2337 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Communist Manifesto Chapter Summary

    At the beginning of the twentieth century, an interesting and special period began in Chinese history when the powerful western countries were trying to dominate China as much as possible. Their ambition grew when they found abundant resources in China and their invading action was aroused due to the incompetence of the Qing government. Gradually, some regions of China became semi-colonies. On the one hand, Chinese people’s human rights were deprived under the colonial domination, resulting in Chinese people’s resent to these western countries. On the other hand, the invasion of the Western Powers also brought modern thought and led many thinkers and activists to look for the best ideology among these thoughts to extricate…

    • 2337 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Starbucks vs Ethiopia
    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Starbucks vs Ethiopia

    Timeline Chronological order of major events in the Starbucks vs. Ethiopia dispute over coffee names 2004: Starbucks filed application to register “Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo” trademark. Ethiopia asked Starbucks to drop its application because the country is preparing to register the names Sidamo and Harar; Starbucks refused to talk 2005 March : The Government of Ethiopia filed applications with USPTO to trademark Harrar, Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe 2006*: NCA filed a letter of protest asking Ethiopia's application to register all the names be denied. Starbucks then drop its application for “Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo” but continued to ignore Ethiopia's call to discuss. Ethiopia's application for Yirgacheffe trademark has been granted; members of the contesting party expressed their regrets for lack of preparations to block it. Ethiopia continued to seek Starbucks' voluntary agreement acknowledging the country's ownership of the names Sidamo and Harar 2006 October: Oxfam and 85,000 Starbucks customers asked Starbucks to come to the table to discuss and sign a Licensing Agreement with Ethiopia acknowledging Ethiopia's ownership of the names Sidamo and Harar 2006 November: Oxford Professor offered an independent view and analysis concluding that Starbucks should help Ethiopians to dig themselves out of poverty by allowing them to participate meaningfully in the value chain, not deny them the means to do so (read here) 2006 December: Starbucks Employees Union asked Starbucks to honor its commitment to the coffee farmers (read here) 2006 December 16: Starbucks Day of Action took the public campaign to a new phase. Activists from Ethiopian community, regional Fair Trade coalitions, University students, and consumer groups took the campaign to doorsteps of Starbucks coffee houses engaging employees and consumers with discussions over Starbucks' refusal to allow Ethiopian farmers to trademark their own coffee names. Analysts say, the campaign is turning the public dispute…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Decisive Moment Robert Frank Analysis
    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Decisive Moment Robert Frank Analysis

    The whole society seems thriving however if people cannot discover these problems in time, this society could turn to the negative side. Although China is still constantly developing, economy remains one of the most dynamic on Earth, the businesses the most innovative and the infrastructure construction is also popular; the solicitude for civil realm of spirit seems to have been no attention. The dissatisfaction from citizen to the government is increasingly aggravated. On the one hand, the vested interest in social or in the circle are enjoying benefits of various policies, they have a glamorous life. On the other hand, some that cannot enjoy these benefits are distribute their grievances. However, they seem to be very yearning to enter a circle like that. The value of the whole society seems to have some deviation. To contrast with , if some photographer would like to launch a similar photography project, they could choose some particularly elements as the Chinese characteristics, for example, traditional Chinese street, Asian face, Chinese food, national flag and others. Thus, in this respect one can see that Robert Frank has various experiences for his choice of source material. The reason is that these elements all have similarity, but it is different in every country. The viewers can separate different country by…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    A Brief Analysis of “the Curse of the Golden Flower” (2006)
    • 2661 Words
    • 11 Pages

    A Brief Analysis of “the Curse of the Golden Flower” (2006)

    The film starts a few days before the Chongyang Festival, which celebrates the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. The Emperor, together with one of his sons, Prince Jai, returns to the Imperial Court in order to celebrate the holiday with the…

    • 2661 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ancient Rituals In Ancient China
    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ancient Rituals In Ancient China

    According to the website nationsonline.org the Chinese civilization begins with Pangu who is the creator of the universe. The 21st to 16th centuries BCE is known as the Xia dynasty. This is when the lunar calendar was created. This calendar was created to benefit agriculture. This helped them determine the proper times for watering crops, seeding, and gathering harvest. During the Qin dynasty from 221 to 206 BCE the calendar was modified to 24 periods of 15 days each. This helped determine the seasonal changes during the year. The position of the sun is represented by 12 animals. In 104 BCE Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220CE) approved of a calendar change that marked the beginning of the year by the appearance of the first new moon after the sun enters the 11th sign of zodiac. The first day is also called the “beginning of spring”. Since then the Chinese New Year’s Day is also known as a “spring festival”. When the republic of China was founded in 1912 the government decided to adopt the Gregorian calendar to be the public calendar. The lunar calendar is still used as part of the tradition to determine special dates that were created like the festival of spring which is dependent from this…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Kate Chopin
    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Kate Chopin

    Authors in the nineteenth century were descriptive and wrote for a cause, but the content of each story was relatable. A writer does not just think of a story that is automatically deep and rich in thought; he or she needs to become the character of the story. Kate Chopin modeled her female characters as strong, independent women much like herself. She wrote as if each story was an autobiography about different lives she wanted to live. Chopin could not judge the characters she wrote about, for she would, in turn, be judging herself.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Carnival festival
    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Carnival festival

    Carnival, known as Kanaval in the Haitian Creole language, is a festival held every year in February. It’s held for several weeks leading up to Mardi Gras. The carnival parade is defined as “defile” in Creole. The carnival takes place in the capital of Haiti, Port au Prince, which is also the largest city in Haiti. Carnival is funded by wealthy Haitian families and by the government of Haiti. Carnival season in Haiti starts at the end of January; it’s called Pre-Kanaval. The main festival always starts in February. Carnival ends every year on Mardi Gras, which in creole means “Fat Tuesday”.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics