University English

Hong Kong Baptist University Language Centre
GCLA1009 University English II (2013/14)
Assessment 2 – Synthesizing information (15%)

ASSIGNMENT DUE DATE: Monday 24 March 2014
PROCEDURES:
 Submit to Turnitin on BU Moodle for plagiarism check. If Turnitin report shows over 20% similarity with other sources, re-do the assignment and re-submit (you can do this as many times as you wish).
Do NOT copy the instructions as these will count as being “copied”.
 Print the Turnitin report along with your paper and submit this checked version to your lecturer. How to submit to Moodle for Turnitin Plagiarism report:
Clear visual instructions on how to submit are posted on Moodle.
FORMAT:
Your summaries must be typed:
 Font: Times New Roman, 12 points
 Margins 1” or 2.5 cm all round

PLAGIARISM POLICY:
Plagiarism (copying from other students or sources without an acknowledgment) is not tolerated at HKBU. Should a case of plagiarism be established, University regulations will be strictly applied and these include failing a course or being expelled from the University.
Penalties will also apply for making your work available to other students.

University English II Synthesis Assignment

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Assessment 2: Synthesizing information (15%)
Instructions
Write a synthesis of the three passages in 400 (+/-40) words. Your paper should use only information from these texts but you should use your own words and adopt referencing conventions. Your synthesis should answer the following question:
How are reality TV shows viewed in China by general audiences and critics, and what actions have the Chinese government taken to control such TV programmes?
__________________________________________________________________
Passage 1:
Bergman, Justin. (2010, June 30). (Abridged) China’s TV Dating Shows: For Love or Money? TIME.
For a small but increasingly high-profile number of young women in modern-day China, true love is all about the numbers. A potential suitor may have a good sense of humor and reasonable good looks, but what they say really matters is if he owns an apartment and how many square feet it is. A sizable bank account is also a must, and, some say, so is a luxury car.
At least, that's the way things look if you watch Chinese television these days. Though China was slow to pick up on the reality-programming trend, a host of dating shows and American Idol copycats have emerged in recent years, capturing millions of viewers and angering critics who say the programs promote negative, non-traditional values among millions of urban Chinese youth viewers. The latest reality-TV scandal to transfix the nation involves Ma Nuo, a 22-year-old model from Beijing who appeared on China's most popular dating show, If You Are the One. She haughtily rejected an offer from a male contestant to take a ride on his bike. "I'd rather cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle," Ma told her suitor with a giggle.
The televised smackdown swept the Internet and made an instant celebrity of Ma in the country. The backlash among young Chinese was especially severe, reflecting growing anxieties over the widening gap between rich and poor, shifting societal values and the difficulties of finding a mate in a country where men are expected to outnumber women by 24 million in a decade.
Xie Yong, wrote on the Web portal Sohu.com: "The most controversial aspect of these programs is the value contestants place on money worshipping and rich people. These opinions are so contrary to traditional values, like loving one's country and respecting one's elders ... But we can't do anything if these people just like ugly things."
This is cause for concern for the government. In response to the public outcry over Ma's infamous quote as well as comments from other money-obsessed contestants, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued a harsh set of new rules in early June for matchmaking programs.
"Incorrect social and love values such as money worship should not be presented in the shows," the notice read. It also banned "morally provocative hosts and hostesses" and demanded that participants undergo stricter screening procedures and "be cautious before mouthing venturous remarks." After the new policies were announced, all of China's dating shows said they would promptly comply.

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That the government would target a TV dating series is not unusual; Beijing has long been wary of
China's increasingly freewheeling reality programs and the outspoken stars they produce. In 2005, Li
Yuchun, a 21-year-old androgynous singer with David Bowie hair, became an overnight sensation when she performed songs written for men and proudly called herself a tomboy on an American Idol–like talent show called Super Girl. After the authorities intervened to stop her public gender-bending, Li switched to a patriotic folk song for the finale — and still won. Then, three years ago, SARFT pulled the plug on its first Chinese reality show — a talent contest broadcast out of Chongqing called The First
Heartthrob — because of what it called "sensationalist" and "vulgar" content. It also issued a directive outlawing any programs in which people underwent sex-change operations or plastic surgery and prohibited another Idol copycat, Happy Boys Voice, from showing crying contestants, "unhealthy songs" and "wild hair."
Now the state is going after money worshippers and gold diggers — and Ma Nuo (nicknamed "BMW
Lady" by bloggers) isn't the only target. Zhu Zhenfang, another contestant on If You Are the One, caused a stir when she refused to shake hands with a prospective suitor, saying he "must pay 200,000 yuan
[about $29,000] for the privilege."
As disgusted as viewers have been by some of the contestants, however, they continue to watch religiously. Why are people still tuning in? "Audiences like the programs because they're honest. They show the current reality of Chinese society," says Yan Mu, one of the founders of Baihe.com, an online dating service. Young people are so focused on making money and building their careers these days, they have little time to devote to dating — and contestants speak to these difficulties on the shows, he says. "Many people feel pressure from their parents and peers," Yan adds. "It can be a struggle to find a partner." Money may not buy you love. But on China's reality shows, it can at least get you a date. (756 words) Passage 2:
Jacobs, Andrew. (2011, Sept 19). (Abridged) China’s Popularity May Have Doomed Chinese TV Talent
Show. The New York Times.
BEIJING — In the end, it was not the overabundance of sequins or the cringe-worthy ballads that doomed “Super Girl,” one of China’s most popular televised talent extravaganzas.
When government censors pulled the plug on the show after its season finale on Friday night, they claimed that the producers had simply let the program warble on too long.
In confirming the yearlong suspension, a spokesman for the company that created the “American Idol” knockoff expressed contrition for having let the show repeatedly exceed a state-imposed 90-minute limit on talent competitions, which government mandarins have variously described as “vulgar,”
“manipulative” and “poison for our youth.”
For the devotees who have followed the season, the suspension has produced shock and heartache.
Under pseudonyms, one fan wailed, “I will never be happy again!” on Weibo, China’s most popular microblog service.

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But for those prone to more sober thoughts, the ban issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is a bracing reminder of the heavy hand guiding popular culture in China.
On the day they suspended “Super Girl,” the authorities imposed a one-month suspension on a channel in northern Hebei Province after one of its talk shows featured a son’s berating of his father. The program “magnified distorted ethics and moral values” and “caused extremely negative social effects,” regulators said.
Although government officials did not elaborate on the reasons behind the cancellation of “Super Girl,” television executives and cultural critics suggested that the ruling Communist Party was unnerved by the runaway success of the show, whose producers have created a string of American-style reality shows that are more popular than the turgid fare of the state-run broadcaster, CCTV.
Others suggested that the show’s reliance on voting by audience members was dangerously democratic.
Such conjecture is not far-fetched: regulators banned text-message voting from viewers in 2007, forcing the show to largely limit audience participation to those inside the cavernous television studio.
Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the ban reflected the growing chasm between Chinese youths and the conservative bureaucrats who keep a tight leash on the production and dissemination of popular culture. “Maybe government regulators just got too many complaints from retired cadres.”
Despite its immense popularity, “Super Girl” went on a three-year hiatus in 2006 after a previous controversy fanned by Liu Zhongde, a former culture minister who led a campaign against the show. In a string of interviews in the state media, Mr. Liu lambasted the program as a threat to traditional Chinese culture and a blight on the nation.
“What the market chooses is not necessarily a good thing,” he said at the time. “ ‘Super Girl’ is certainly the choice of the market, but we can’t have working people reveling all day in low culture.” (461 words)

Passage 3:
He, Huifeng. (2012, Aug 19). (Abridged) The Voice of China Reality Television Show Attracts More Than
120 Million Viewers. South China Morning Post.
The Voice, an internationally franchised reality television show, has been a big hit on the mainland since its launch last month, with The Voice of China attracting more than 120 million TV viewers and 400 million internet users - and topping the ratings.
What makes it unique is that the talent on the show is selected through blind auditions, where the judges can only hear the singers who are auditioning for slots on the show.
Before The Voice of China, several TV stations produced copycat versions of The Voice of Holland, the original show. However, unlike the shows in Britain and Australia, there would be no public vote in The
Voice of China. Instead, they would invite representatives from different media outlets as judges for the finale in addition to the panel of four.

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But The Voice of China has also built up its own core magic to attract viewers.
In the programme, ordinary people can identify with every contestant. There is the girl whose late father hoped his daughter would follow his musical dream, a 30-year-old man whose musical talent went unrecognised but whose girlfriend never gave up on him, and a country girl who likes to sing Adele's songs in the hills but does not understand English.
All the contestants are extremely good singers but they lack glitz and have endured various hardships in their lives and careers. But it is that lack of glitz that could be the show's best selling point because it touches tens of millions of viewers.
"I like the sense of honesty and respect for music shown by the contestants," one microblogger wrote.
Peggy He, a Guangzhou university student, said she was touched by the contestants and their struggles.
"They are just like you and me and anyone walking on the street," she said. "We all suffer and struggle in daily life but still look for opportunities for a better life.
Reality TV shows are more popular than comedies, dramas and documentaries on the mainland, where
TV viewers complain that restrictions imposed by the authorities result in boring shows that avoid real issues such as soaring living costs, crime, corruption and the failings of the Communist Party. (364 words)

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