Notes

1 Modernizing China

1This problem is of such importance that is was the main focus of a highly popular and controversial television series in China. The program, New Star, is the subject of Chapter 6.

2 In the Name of Civilization

1 It must be kept in mind that the meaning of a person's wages in China differs greatly from many other countries because many of the most expensive necessities, including housing, are paid for or cost very little for state employees.

2 Thanks to Wang Jiangang of the People's University of China and CCTV for providing the latest statistics.

3 Knowing China

1See Guldin (1987)and Thurston and Pasternak (1983)for thoughtful discussions of these developments.

2 As very little social research has been conducted in China, scholars there must depend on foreign-language materials. Unfortunately, very little work published outside China has been translated into Chinese or made available to the scholarly community there.

3 Even before the Tiananmen Square crackdown there had been a reduction in the number of students permitted to study abroad, although about 40,000 Chinese students were enrolled in American universities alone in 1990. Statistics are not available, but estimates of the number of students who fail to return to China after studying overseas are high and even those who have gone back to China have sometimes suffered for becoming too 'Westernized.'

4 But like so many social scientists, they nonetheless drew inferences based on statistical tests that assume random sampling and a normal distribution of cases.

5 Other difficulties with the Hong Kong research include memory loss, limitations on interviewing imposed by Chinese and British authorities in Hong Kong, and 'demand characteristics' — immigrants trying to please the researchers by answering the 'right' way, whatever it may have been perceived to be. Whyte also admits that their accounts lack color. He suggests that this indirect and scientifically problematic method fails to get at the real 'feeling of China,' including especially the 'attitudes, values, and emotions' of the people there (Whyte, 1983: 71) .

6 A small grant was given by San Jose State University in California.

4 Television in Urban China

1Going to the park,however,continues to be a favorite activity as parks are good places to escape the congested living conditions.

2 Neena Behl (1988) reports a similar influence of television on the families of Indian villagers, though the cultural circumstances are much different from China.

5 Crossing the Electronic Bridge

1 One of the most stunning contradictions in Chinese socialist society is the difference between the prescribed egalitarianism of gender relations and the reality. Virtually all government officials are males. The evening CCTV newscast brings this distortion home to viewers every night, especially in the seemingly endless coverage of government meetings where virtually all the people shown in the large halls are men.

6 China's New Star

1 Kuo reportedly fled China during the turmoil in 1989.

2 I have developed this summary of New Star only after repeatedly viewing scene by scene a videotape of the entire series with scholars from the People's Republic. We spent days doing this - playing and stopping the videotape to make exact translations and to discuss the political and cultural significance of the images.

3 In the novel, however, this optimistic feeling sours when it is revealed that praise for Li given by the Province Secretary is the result of the prodding of his daughter, Xiaoli. This detail is not made clear in the television series, but for readers of the novel this was a disturbing and disappointing development. It further indicated the guanxi problem. Xiaoli's influence is not a good reason to praise Li or to support the concept of the reformation.

4 Most of the remainder of the sample also was not negative about New Star. Seven percent had no opinion while but two percent said they didn't like it.

7 The Freedom to have Fun

1 Much of the information presented in the following discussion is taken from these articles which appeared in American newspapers: Edward Gargan, 'China's cultural crackdown,' New York Times Magazine, July 12th, 1987; Edward Gargan, 'Revolution in China for movie makers,' San Francisco Chronicle, December 30th, 1987; Judy Stone, 'Chinese film maker leaving key post,' San Francisco Chronicle, September 9th, 1988; Judy Stone, 'Chinese film maker battles military protests,' San Francisco Chronicle, March 20th, 1988; David Armstrong, 'Director's first film a big hit,' San Francisco Examiner, November 6th, 1988; Judy Stone, 'Controversial Red Sorghum is Chinese director's celebration of life,' San Francisco Chronicle, October 30th, 1988.

2 Su reportedly left China in the midst of the crackdown in 1989.

8 Looking in and Looking Out

1 The official policy against inserting commercials inside programs is wavering. Commercials are now routinely placed inside films which are shown on television.

2 While Oshin was extremely popular in China as high-quality entertainment with an inspirational message, the show had its critics, though they are few in number and are usually reluctant to offer a truly condemning analysis. Generally, men are more likely than women to criticize the show, partly because they feel it doesn't appeal to them thematically. Some younger viewers, especially males, feel that the ponderous pace of the show is simply too dragged out. Young viewers also were often less interested than their parents in the program's content as it deals with a history that is distant from them. Some viewers complain that all the tragedies that befell Oshin were simply unrealistic. A clothing factory worker from Shanghai, for instance, said: 'Lots of guys at the factory think that the show is bad because it is impossible to have so much tragedy going on at the same time!' A 28-year-old Beijing mother also questions the realism saying that women today cannot do what Oshin did decades earlier.

3 Another important television program, Four Generations in One House, was presented in China about the same time that Oshin was on the air. The show stimulated considerable interest among viewers, particularly in the Beijing area where this historical drama was set. It is the story of a Chinese family of four generations that lived in a simple, groundfloor housing complex during the occupation of China by Japan prior to their defeat at the end of World War Two. The lives of ordinary Chinese were shown, with three sons in the family each taking a different path (resister; traitor; pacifist) in the face of Japanese oppression.

The great majority of viewers said that they watched the program primarily for cultural reasons, particularly older viewers who had experienced what the program depicts. One old grandfather in Beijing broke into tears as he described his feelings about the program to us. The program was a damning portrayal of the Japanese occupation of China that fueled strong patriotic feelings and anti Japanese sentiments among some viewers. People said the program stimulated feelings of self-respect and love of country while other viewers expressed rage about the Japanese occupation. The story is indeed about a dark moment in Chinese history, a time when life was truly miserable for many innocent people. Some viewers were emotionally distraught, calling the Japanese 'imperialists,' 'criminals,' and 'cheaters.' An old grandmother couldn't watch because, 'I experienced that myself in reality ... I don't like to watch Chinese suffer at the hands of the Japanese.' And the most eloquent, lengthy commentary about the program came from a young (32) female party member in Beijing:

'This program helps young people understand that the Japanese perpetrated criminal behavior - they were guilty. Today, young people don't like to look back. Of course, we should look to the future, but we can't forget that we have been treated cruelly by foreign interventionists from the past. We should remember this. Four Generations in One House made many young people go back to the past. It helps stimulate people to build up the four modernizations and to realize the country's dream about becoming healthy, plentiful, rich, and strong. Only when we are strong will no one dare invade us again.'

9 Tiananmen Square and Beyond

1 As a resident of San Francisco, I was reminded again just a few months after the Beijing hostilities of the tendency of the mass media to exaggerate the body count of disasters. The San Francisco Chronicle, for instance, ran the headline: 'Hundreds dead in freeway collapse' following the earthquake in the city when the actual number of persons who died in the structure was about 60. In Beijing, where reporters were denied access to official sources, to Tiananmen Square itself, and to the ordinary citizens who cannot speak English and were afraid to interact with foreigners anyway, the problems of reporting the details of such a terrifying event were compounded greatly.

2 I have viewed the programs several times and have had each Mandarinlanguage program translated into English. Special thanks to my colleague and friend, Wen-shu Lee, for her extremely helpful translations and insights.

3 A very incisive and brilliantly photographed account of what happened is Turnley et al. (1989).

4 In the process, however, many factories and businesses were forced to close, raising grave concerns about long-term prospects of the economy.