8
Looking in and Looking Out

Viewing habits and cultural consequences

The power of television rests not only in its ability to influence people by exposing them to particular ideas, thereby serving the interests of those who control programming, but also in the personal evaluations, interpret ations, and uses of program content that are made by viewers and the ways that those audience-initiated actions engage and transform political, economic, and cultural realities. This collective cooption of television is an act of cultural construction, and the cultures that are being created in China now draw from a pool of resources that were not available before information from TV became part of the popular consciousness. Given all this, several central questions must be asked. What television programs appeal to viewers? How do people feel about what they get from TV? And most important, what have been the social and cultural consequences of television's presence in China?

Viewers' Favorite Program Types

During the first few minutes of the family interviews we asked each person to tell us his or her favorite type of television program. For family members who were not present, we asked the others to identify the program type that is preferred by the absent person. We accepted multiple responses when viewers had more than one favorite. Some people did not have a favorite type and nothing was recorded when there were disagreements about the preferences of an absent family member.

I have constructed basic statistical representations of the responses. I hasten to point out that these data reflect preferred types of programs —not particular shows, amount of time spent viewing, or impact. Furthermore, there is greater opportunity for some program types to become popular simply because they appear on TV more often. Interestingly, however, some of the least abundant programming (e.g. sports and drama serials) is the most preferred. Program types divide into four essential categories shown in Table 1. In order of overall popularity, these are drama, sports, information, and light entertainment programs. Situation comedies, by far the most popular American prime-time genre, do not appear on Chinese TV.

Drama

Nearly half of the viewers prefer drama, underscoring the fact that Chinese viewers, like people everywhere, watch television primarily for its entertainment value (Lull, 1988). The various drama series are favored most, but traditional Chinese operas are also well-liked.

The age of the viewer makes a difference in the type of television drama that is preferred (statistics not shown). Clearly, young people like contemporary drama serials while older viewers lean toward the Chinese operas. This difference symbolizes how members of the old and young generations think. Contemporary dramas, especially foreign productions, are regarded by many older viewers as irrelevant (outside their experience and interest) or confusing. Similarly, young people are bored by the traditional operas. While the Chinese operas present only the history and traditions of old China, the modern dramas project a progressive, international mood. A retired grandfather in Xian explained that he cannot watch contemporary dramas: 'I love, but I don't talk about love anymore. These new dramas make me very uncomfortable. It's not appropriate for us to watch modern love stories in front of our children and grandchildren.' His wife, a retired metal fabricator, agreed: 'It's so embarrassing if we watch this together. The daughter-in-law and the grandfather should keep some distance between themselves.'

Many older viewers use Chinese operas to stake out cultural space in a world that is changing before their eyes at an unprecedented pace. Some of these viewers claim to have 'old style' personalities that resonate culturally with the operas. Furthermore, fans of the opera can watch the same show many times, a reassuring cultural experience. As a Beijing devotee said, 'We watch the operas because of their good values. Chinese people like the Chinese opera like Western people like their Jesus ... Chinese believe in their old heroes and their history. So people like to watch it again and again just like Western people think that the Christian story never ends.'

Sports

Sports is second only to drama in overall popularity, though there are relatively few sporting events presented on television and Chinese teams rarely appear. The fact that many televised sports presentations are videotape replays of old contests played outside China doesn't matter much to Chinese viewers since they do not normally follow the status of foreign teams anyway.

European-style football is the favorite television sport. Women's volleyball is also popular, though it is not televised enough to be named a favorite. Kung-fu is a substantial favorite among viewers too. Although kung-fu action is typically set within a dramatic context, young fans usually appreciate the physical aspect more than the story.

Information

News is the most popular of China's informational programming and exposure to it is actually greater than its popularity suggests. Many family members are regular news viewers, for instance, but do not regard it to be their favorite type of television program. Television is the most accessible news medium for urban people. Less-educated and older viewers frequently say they benefit from the explanations that accompany the visuals.

Other categories of informational programming elicit far less enthusiasm, though a few viewers say that educational, TVU, travel shows, documentaries, language-learning programs, or political programming are their favorites.

Light entertainment

This is a catch-all category comprised of comedy, music, dance, and other performance arts. Variety shows, the most popular light entertainment programming, usually include some combination of these elements. Among the most popular light entertainment programs is Foreigners Sing Chinese Songs — a rare peek at how the outside world deals with Chinese society, one that flatters and greatly amuses viewers. Other favorites are children's programs (especially cartoons which are sometimes viewed by older viewers), animal shows (which also appeal to some older viewers), crosstalk, game shows, music and comedy specials.

Gender differences

Males and females differ in their preferences (Tables 2 and 3). Drama is far-and-away the preferred television genre of women. Exactly two-thirds of the female viewers rate drama as their favorite while slightly less than one-third of the men do so. Sports preferences are even more lopsided. Overall, sports is the second most popular type of television program, but nearly all of its support comes from males who consider it to be their favorite program type. The vast majority of sports programming is of male sports, which surely contributes to the unbalanced rating. Women speak highly only of female volleyball matches.

Men are also more likely than women to like informational programs, especially news. One-fourth of the men prefer informational shows, while but 10 percent of the women do so, making it their least preferred type of show. Light entertainment is the men's least favorite programming, but a popular type for women. Many women speak nostalgically about their love for the artistic content of these shows, sometimes lamenting that they can now only vicariously experience music or dance through television. A number of other less frequently mentioned light entertainment favorites have no gender-based pattern.

Children's favorite shows

Cartoons and children's programming (often the same thing) are heavy favorites for boys and girls aged II and under (boys: 53 percent; girls: 68 percent). There is no discernible pattern of second favorites for boys; for girls, dramas are popular. Many teenaged boys like sports and kung-fu programs and girls favor the dramas, but adolescents commonly complain that very little programming suits their interests.

Viewers Criticize Chinese Television

The quality of TV sets, number of television channels, and amount and diversity of programming have all increased or improved since television first became part of family life. But at the same time, viewers have become more sophisticated and demanding in their expectations. So, while they recognize the improvements, they also strongly criticize the forms and conventions of the programs and commercials. In one sense, the relatively rapid availability of television in China has ultimately undermined the medium's appeal, especially as the recent economic and political crisis sharpened popular criticism about everything. China does not yet produce many attractive or technically-sophisticated programs.

Program quality

Many viewers believe that Chinese programs are extremely boring and predictable. Except for their favorite shows, the people think that the Chinese dramas are especially deadly. In their words:

Repetition

Television stations often repeat programs and different stations in the same area sometimes carry the same show at different times. Programs are sometimes repeated by the province stations in order to present a popular show in the local dialect. The ability of the Chinese television system to produce a large number of programs is limited by the country's economic and political condition, so many programs are shown more than once simply to fill airtime. This fact doesn't console viewers much. They are annoyed by the repetition.

Production quality

Viewers often criticize domestic TV programs for what they term 'amateurish' production techniques. Chinese people say that foreign countries generally are better at the artistic and technical aspects of television production. A couple of anecdotes illustrate the problem. An American professor friend told me that what he remembered best about Chinese television was a public service program where a close-up shot of a Bunsen burner emanated from the screen. My friend left the room where the TV was located and returned ten minutes later only to find the exact same inanimate image showing on the screen with little or no narration. One young Guangzhou viewer held a still photograph in front of us as he explained that in Chinese shows 'nothing moves ... nothing happens ... the shows are flat. If they don't improve TV they will never be able to attract young people.' A young Beijing viewer called Chinese production techniques 'rough,' and said that even less-developed countries have greater production skill.

Timing

Some viewers believe that the good TV shows are scheduled too late (after 9 or 10 p.m.), creating problems for older people, students, and workers. The more interesting common complaint, however, is that certain program elements — especially commercials and late night news inserts — interrupt dramatic presentations. When commercials or news follow an episode of a popular dramatic series, for instance, viewers are annoyed by the sudden introduction of unrelated and usually unannounced program material. Commercials appear in clusters that sometimes last ten minutes or more and are not listed in the TV program guides.

Alterations in TV program schedules are also common. Programs do not always begin at the publicized times. Substitutions are sometimes made without notice. Programs are added that are not in the listings, thereby throwing off the entire schedule. Shows run longer than scheduled. These adjustments negatively affect millions of people. A Beijing meatcutter describes the inconvenience: 'We work hard, catch the bus, push, push, push to see the TV shows we want ... but then they just run commercials or other useless shows.' The parents of a X ian girl said that she is 'nervous and out of breath' when her favorite shows don't appear on time.

Popular serials are generally scheduled for one or two episodes per week, a rate of presentation that many viewers think is too slow. Some viewers complain that the stories themselves don't develop fast enough while others say they lose track of the plot because there is so much time between episodes, causing them to become apprehensive about the stories.

The Problem of Commercials

Some viewers consider commercials to be necessary, but most people hate them. Criticisms are made of both their form and content. People feel first of all that there are simply too many commercials and that they interrupt viewing even though they generally do not appear during the programs.¹ Viewers complain that the same commercials are presented over and over, appearing unchanged on some stations for a year or more. The low production quality of domestic commercials compared to foreign spots is even more apparent than are differences in full-length programs. Because of their crucial importance in marketing products in capitalist countries, commercials are among the most technically and aesthetically advanced forms of television production. Compared to the fast and flashy American and Japanese commercials, Chinese television ads are 'tiresome,' in the words of a Shanghai viewer. Visual transitions are rough, directors tend to be zoom crazy, and audio tracks are muffled and inconsistent from spot

to spot. China has recently imported various special effects equipment in order to improve the production quality of domestic commercials. A broadcast official in Shanghai said he hopes this will encourage the audience to 'tolerate the commercials better.'

Because China's economy is based in part on planning and market demand that is not directed solely toward individual consumers and families, many commercials on Chinese television are designed to reach buyers for factories and other work units. So, it is not unusual to see commercials for enormous power generators, hydraulic cranes, and two-ton trucks on prime-time TV. The frequency of these commercials increases to intolerable proportions when the big industrial items are overstocked. Imagine how viewers feel when these commercials appear. The people cannot understand why they have to sit through announcements for something 'that we don't even know what it's for!' according to one man. In recent years with the growth of the private sector economy, viewers now also speculate that the advertised industrial products may be within financial grasp of some of China's rich entrepreneurs, a suspicion that further intensifies viewers' great distaste for these odd commercials.

Viewers also believe that much of the information contained in commercials is untrue. One person remarked, 'they say things like "we're number one in the whole world" ... "we're internationally famous," and so on.

It's not true.' Another person said that sponsors 'say their product is better and cheaper but they never tell us the price.' The vast difference between the reality that is presented in commercials and what citizens encounter in their everyday lives is perhaps most clearly dramatized in how service is portrayed on TV. Commercials routinely show caring store clerks cheerfully helping customers when in reality it is nearly impossible to get good service in stores anywhere in China. Furthermore, these overblown commercials are, indeed, a curiosity in a system, and a culture, that generally does not condone overstatement. In that sense, TV commercials may be the most capitalistic feature of modern China. Advertising's rhetorical excesses irritate even those who favor more private enterprise.

The people are even more cynical about the relationship between advertising messages, the availability of advertised products, and product performance. Many products that are advertised on television are not available in the stores and as a result viewers feel misled and they are angry about it. They interpret the problem as either inefficiency in the economic system or a blatant disregard for the truth on the part of the television stations. Either way, viewers are mightilv irritated. Let me provide some examples.

A Beijing viewer blames Chinese television stations for indulging in unethical behavior: 'Some commercials even cheat people ... the television stations just accept money for commercials. They don't care about the quality of the product or its availability ... they just play the commercials.' Many people say that constant discrepancies between advertising claims, product availability, and product performance has led to serious credibility problems.

Irresponsible advertising has become commonplace in China as stations have grown more and more dependent on commercial revenues and have become willing to accept the short-term profits that can be turned by overlooking unethical advertising claims. China's lack of an effective legal system in general, and its inability to regulate communications activity in particular, further contribute to the problem. As the people started to suffer greatly from inflation in the late 1980s, they became far less tolerant of these ever-increasing abuses. Viewers do not consider these problems to be isolated difficulties. Misleading advertising messages have dramatically helped spread the belief in China that the entire system is not working well and that television stations, like virtually everything else in the country, are corrupt. The commercials advertise the corruption as much as they do the products.

A perspective on these problems, with special reference to the advertising of imported products, is provided by a young, highly-educated couple in Xian (he is a college instructor; she is a public relations consultant):

Fighting the transportation system to go to a store where the product is supposed to be, then not being able to buy it, infuriates people. The whole situation is a test of the economic system. When difficulties are encountered following the suggestions of advertising, people become angry at television, commercials, the stores, and the entire Chinese manufacturing and marketing system.

Imitation, Learning, and social Behavior

A story is told in China about a young girl who killed herself after watching a television program that reminded her of her own situation. The girl had viewed a Japanese drama in which the lead character suffered from a rare disease. The story ends when the girl in the drama loses her will to live and takes a small boat out into the ocean where she commits suicide. The girl who watched this program had a similar disease and identified with the actress's circumstances. Depressed from her illness and fearing that her parents did not love her, the girl sailed a small boat into the sea where she killed herself.

This story got a lot of play in the Chinese press and became the ultimate example of television's potential negative influence. Although this case is recognized as extreme, people generally think that television stimulates young people to imitate the images and actions it presents. Indeed, a major objective of television programmers is to provide positive role models that audience members will imitate. Parents realize that even very young children imitate what they see on television, particularly physical action:

• — A 2-year-old child watches a marathon race on TV and imitates the cheerleaders.
• — The same child learns to recognize foreigners from TV.
• — A l6-month-old child knows her favorite television characters by sight.
• — A 3-year-old child imitates perfectly the actions of characters on the Japanese cartoon shows.

• — Grade school children routinely sing and play out the cartoon dramas at school.
• — A 3-year-old moves his arms III 'show dance style' to television disco dancing.
• — Another 3-year-old memorizes and sings back the theme songs to commercials.

One character that young chlidren love to imitate is Chi-kung (or Chi-tien), the 'drunken Buddha' or 'crazy monk.' He is a famous literary figure from centuries ago known for his quirky personality and individualism. Chi-kung has become a famous cartoon character on TV. His unique clothes, speech pattern, and funny behavior all attract children. Virtually every youngster in China knows Chi-kung — but this is the first generation to know him from television. For adolescents, it is television and film stars, pop singers, and sports heroes who are the popular role models today.

Kung-fu: Chinese violence

For boys especially, role models who really stand out on television now are the kung-fu heroes, China's action-adventure stars. A Shanghai man said: 'A lot of kids like to learn kung-fu. A few months ago the newspaper reported that a young boy learned kung-fu from TV and hurt somebody.' A 14-year-old Xian boy said that his teacher tells the students not to use kung-fu techniques to beat the younger children. This boy says that 'without kung-fu life would be boring ... but too much kung-fu isn't good either because I can't concentrate on my schoolwork. I always want to watch it.' A mother from Beijing agreed that kung-fu has the most influence: 'The children are curious about it. After they watch they either physically imitate it, or talk about the story and how the actors did the kung-fu. Kids imitate the exciting parts.'

Parents do not seem greatly concerned about the impact of kung-fu, despite the news reports and even the observed behavior of their own children. The father of a 5-year-old Shanghai boy, for instance, says that his son likes to 'fight with me, kung-fu style.' He said that he isn't worried about the future effect of this, since 'he is very obedient in nursery school.' A Beijing mother noticed that her male children like kung-fu and war movies: 'These programs interest children very fast and the kids imitate the shows quickly too. They just play with each other, though. They usually don't hurt each other.' Still, kung-fu is China's most popular form of televised violence. A Guangzhou father lamented, 'Kids don't think about kung-fu, they just imitate it. This kind of violence is human nature. It's the common sickness of the whole world.'

The Chinese audience: a cultural perspective

In what ways are viewer preferences, criticisms, and the social effects of television in China unique to the culture? This is an important question to ask about the implications of television as cultural contexts invariably help shape viewing experiences. Certain features of television seem to inspire near universal responses, while other aspects differ greatly from culture to culture (Lull, 1988).

In China we find that the program preferences of viewers are extremely similar to those of television audiences in other countries. The genderdifferentiated patterns resemble the program preferences of men and women from countries with very different levels of economic development, government systems, and television systems. Men's interest in sports, information, and action-based drama and women's preferences for drama and performance art seem to be universal phenomena. The generational differences in China also mirror other societies.

The basic processes of social learning from television in the People's Republic also do not differ from other countries, except that China makes a concerted effort to provide positive role models which they hope the people will imitate. This strategy doesn't work very well in today's political environment. Furthermore, China's young 'television generation' finds other representations more alluring. Especially for boys, the exciting images of action and sport are far more tempting to imitate. Though China does not telecast the endless highly-violent action adventure serials that have become so familiar to viewers in the West, the amount of violent imagery is steadily creeping upward. China's original violent programming, kungfu dramas and war movies, are supplemented now by an increasing number of imported foreign action serials, movies, and cartoon programs. Consequently, Chinese children increasingly imitate violent acts that involve fighting and weapons. Toy guns are readily available in the stores.

Criticisms that Chinese viewers have of television are more culturally specific. As the novelty of television has worn off and viewers have become more sophisticated and demanding of television, certain criticisms are frequently voiced. Although the government has made a major commitment to develop and use television to propagandize, provide entertainment, and stimulate the economy, the people are not content with what television has to offer them. They readily attribute their dissatisfaction with the dramatic and technical quality of domestic programs, the high amount of repetition, and the difficulties with timing to what they consider to be a philosophy of television programming, and of life in general, that is predictable and unexciting. Television is there for all to see; it identifies, emphasizes, and symbolizes certain fundamental contradictions and shortcomings of Chinese socialist society in a way that is most persuasive to its audience. These tendencies are then strengthened by viewers' exposure to foreign television programs, a theme which I will now develop more.

The Cultural Reference Point

A key argument I will now make is that television has become the main reference point which Chinese people use to compare and evaluate their own national status, a development that has inspired viewers to dream of a better future while at the same time they have become frustrated and angered by the barriers that stand in the way. Television has irreversibly altered the consciousness of the Chinese public. It has introduced, reinforced, and popularized ideas and images that have fueled the imagination of the people in ways that far exceed what government planners had in mind when they first promoted the medium's widespread adoption.

The mind opener

China is not the only communist government that has been radically undermined by television in recent years. The shocking dissolution of communism in eastern and central European countries, particularly East Germany, is directly traceable to a cultural upheaval that resulted in part from the intrusion of foreign television signals and their interaction with other forms of resistant local 'popular' culture (Wicke, 1991). In contrast, however, the television images that threaten the political status quo in China are all transmitted by the government's own telecommunications apparatus.

Though the people don't care much for the majority of the programs that are fed to them, television is nonetheless appreciated for its general ability to 'open the minds' of viewers, providing not just new ideas to consider, but a whole new way to think. Our narrators explain how television has expanded their consciousness:

Vicarious travel

Except for a few lucky students and professionals, very, very few Chinese people ever leave the country. Fewer still expect to get out now with the tightening that has followed the Tiananmen Square turmoil. Viewers commonly say that television is the only way they can visit foreign lands. Using television for vicarious travel is common in cultures everywhere. But the use of the medium is more meaningful for Chinese viewers since they realize that they are unlikely to ever leave the country:

Comparing China to the rest of the world

Before television and the advent of the Open Door policy, Chinese people had precious little information about life outside their country, and the impressions they did receive were highly propagandistic. Now, nearly everyone in China not only gets information about the outside world, they develop critical perspectives on it. Television is the main source. Chinese viewers readily compare their lives to the images of foreign countries that they see on TV. In recent years especially they've had many opportunities to do so. Among the TV programs featured in just one week in fall 1989, in Beijing, for instance, were: Oh, My Child, a drama serial from Japan, The Detective, a serial from Germany, The Red Sun Sets Again, a soap opera from Taiwan, The Municipal Functionaries, a film from Czechoslovakia, Man of Steel, a CBS feature film from the United States, Hunter, an action-adventure serial, and Our House, another serial, both also from the United States, Around the World: Iraq, a travel documentary, Ciranda de Pedra, a soap opera from Brazil, Looking at the World: Kyoto, a travel documentary about Japan, Clever Ikkyu, a Japanese cartoon, as well as language lessons in French, English, and Japanese.

Viewers are drawn to the screen for more than the entertainment value of foreign programs. More than anything they simply want to see what is going on in the rest of the world — not just the political issues and events of foreign places, but simply what other countries look like. This collective curiosity inspires selectively attentive viewing styles. Some people told us, for instance, that when they watch international news, they pay far more attention to street scenes from foreign cities than to the political reporting that accompanies the pictures. Other genres and forms of television provoke similar involvements. Commercials stimulate viewers to think about their material standard in relation to other countries. The United States and Japan are most often compared to China. What the Chinese viewers see in the foreign programs and commercials are extremely glamorous, idealized images of life outside their country, making the cultural contrasts extraordinarily sharp. Television has influenced the audience's thinking on topics that range from sports and consumer activity to the most profound

political, economic, and cultural issues. Our narrators further illustrate how they make these comparisons:

The passion that men have for televised sports is dampened sometimes by the failure of Chinese football teams to compete well with teams from other countries. Viewers compare how teams from different countries play football by watching games on television. A Beijing man who loves to watch Chinese teams play said, 'Foreign teams play like their lives depend on it. They run to the ball. Chinese players just stand there and wait for the ball to come to them.' His teenage son added, 'We are too slow, too soft.' And, again, the father: 'There is big wind, small rain in China. We say something but we can't do it.' This brief snippet of conversation reveals how deep the comparisons go. Viewers begin by comparing one aspect of their society (football-playing skill) to another society, an evaluation that is made possible by television. But they soon generalize beyond the boundaries of the original comparison. China suffers in the process. Viewers are discouraged.

We asked a Shanghai family if they thought it is possible to be influenced by the images of Western countries that now appear on Chinese television. Would they want to adopt a Western lifestyle? A woman answered:

But of course viewers do make the comparisons. The simplistic and con demning impression of the West that China's government has promoted for so many years backfires now that everyone watches television and makes their own interpretations of life outside the country. The restrictive Chinese television system still leaks powerful images that fuel alternative visions of the West. The influence does not always come from American programs. A 32-year-old female hotel service worker in Beijing, for instance, says that the Mexican drama series, Slanders, gave her a new perspective on people in the West:

Chinese viewers are fascinated by the similarities and dissimilarities between their country and the rest of the world. Analyzing the differences gives them new perspectives not only on the outside world, but on their own government and system too. One university student in Beijing, for instance, told me that the main impression of the United States she has gotten from television is that of workplace efficiency: 'You have assembly lines in America. In China we just waste our time.' Another narrator comments:

Some foreign television programs are confusing culturally. Long hair on male football players was noticed by one viewer, for instance, who said he thought this fashion was 'strange ... but interesting.' He also realized that the long-haired players were far better than the short-haired Chinese squad. Another person said that from TV she noticed that 'in the West, even terrible people have cars!' The imported television movie, Man of Steel, which was playing on the national network during my return visit in 1989, has a scene where a terrifyingly emotional man throws his wife against a wall as he screams at her — quite a contrast to family values promoted in China.

Imagine what Chinese children must think of the world that is constructed in the weekly cartoon program, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Consider the contents of one half-hour show. The first segment is 'Mickey Mouse Disco.' All the Disney characters are playing in a disco band, singing English lyrics to an infectious, heavy, dance beat. Donald is called 'Macho Duck' as he dances wildly and kisses several other ducks. Suddenly the scene changes to Rio de Janeiro where Mickey Mouse also dances out of control at the beach to the Supremes' song, 'You Keep Me Hanging On.' In the next segment, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed Cinderella is kidnapped by the devil and taken to Hell where she is held hostage. At the end, Donald speaks perfect Mandarin as he plays with dozens of little animals who bounce around the screen singing. This is an especially touching scene in a society where families don't have pets and rarely have contact with animals except at the zoo or on television.

Oshin — The Japanese Soap Opera Invades China

A case study of how the most powerful foreign television imagery does not always come from the west

By analyzing a foreign program that became extremely popular in the People's Republic of China, I want to explore other dimensions of the idea that television has introduced provocative imagery to the Chinese public that has confused, frustrated, and inspired them all at the same time. The famous Japanese television soap opera Oshin gave Chinese people a firsthand look at the successful development of their longstanding Asian competitor through the touching life story of an exceptional woman. The program was presented on CCTV two nights each week during the summer of 1986. Oshin was dubbed into Mandarin for airing in the People's Republic, but it has also been translated into several other foreign languages for showing in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Brussels, New York, and Tehran (where it also had a profound, though very different, cultural impact), among other places.

The story centers around constant hardships and tragedies which the lead character, Oshin, encounters but somehow always manages to overcome. The story is set during and after World War Two. Oshin's oldest son dies during the fighting. Her husband commits suicide when Japan loses the war. She adopts the son of a close friend. She loses her house to an unscrupulous competitor. She takes her daughter-in-law away from a life of prostitution which the girl had undertaken to pay Oshin back materially for her kindness. She fights to re-establish a profitable family business. She holds the family together during the toughest of times in Japan. Oshin is well-cast and acted, and is of superb technical quality.

More than anything, the program is powerful ideologically. Oshin is a hard-driving family manager with a capitalist vision — her steadfast refusal to let her adopted son follow his heart into the world of art, encouraging him instead to become a businessman, reveals her priorities. She is a tragic heroine. Her ability to transcend a sequence of seemingly endless crises comes from personal strength, intelligence, cunning, and aggressiveness in looking out for the well being of her family and in doing business. Despite the frequency and severity of misfortunes that confront her, Oshin never despairs.

Walking through China's neighborhoods during the steamy summer, one could not miss hearing the sounds of Oshin filtering out of the houses onto the street. Entire families watched together. People who worked outside the home while Oshin was on the air sometimes took FM radios that receive television audio signals with them so they could follow the story. Children who fell asleep during the show asked their parents the next morning to fill them in on what they had missed. Oshin was a true television phenomenon in China.²

The series was popular for many reasons. Some of the reasons can be guessed from what I have already said about television in the People's Republic — few serials (even fewer of high dramatic and technical quality), a limited number of channels to choose from, and few other leisure activities. But above all else, Oshin resonated culturally with the Chinese audience, striking at least four responsive chords. First, as we shall see in the next few paragraphs, people thought that the values portrayed in the show are similar to China's dominant cultural values. Second, Oshin was greatly admired as a person — an individual who not only exhibits acceptable cultural values, but possesses great personal qualities. Third, Oshin's personal struggles symbolize what Japan has endured and accomplished since its defeat in World War Two. Chinese citizens are well aware of the technological progress and economic power that Japan has amassed since 1945. They reluctantly admire Japan's success. So, Oshin's ability to maintain a family and develop a profitable business against all odds is considered to be symbolic of Japan's success and a model for contemporary China. Finally, Oshin was often thought to be a 'woman's show.' Though it was viewed by many men, it appealed more to women who readily identified with Oshin and regarded the program as something of their own. Because of the great importance of this program in China, I will now elaborate on the first three of these analytical issues.

Cultural values

Chinese viewers certainly saw something of the customs and traditions of their own society represented in the most basic assumptions and social practices of scenes from Oshin. This is especially true of human relationships. Many viewers spoke of the perceived sameness between China and Japan. A mother from Beijing, for instance, observed: 'Love relationships between Japanese people are similar to Chinese. We can understand the way the characters act in Oshin. We can't accept some other foreign programs so easily, especially their attitudes about love and man—woman relationships.' Another woman said that she sometimes cried when she watched the show, particularly when someone is treated unfairly. Accord ing to her: 'Traditionally the daughter-in-law is mistreated by the mother-in-law in our societies. The parents eat first, then the daughter-in-law can eat.'

Many people identified with and became very emotionally involved in the misery and near hopelessness of Oshin's situation. Consistent with the Confucian notion that an individual must tolerate hardships and strive for harmony and virtue despite the surroundings, Oshin was an archetypal role model for Chinese people. Oshin had to endure the most miserable life imaginable. Viewers said that this tolerance for suffering was something that they understood culturally.

The overall cultural similarity between Japan and China, even the fact that the people resemble each other physically, means that imagery from Japanese television programs is interpreted very differently by the Chinese from that of Western countries. The cultural resonance encourages Chinese viewers to earnestly compare their way of life to the Japanese. In Oshin, for example, the heavy emphasis that is placed on maintaining the cohesiveness and integrity of the family and on working hard as a group in order to overcome adversity are cultural values that Chinese embrace. More subtle verbal and nonverbal messages such as the ways that decisions are made, how men, women, and children talk to each other, and how emotions are shown, to name but a few considerations, also promote a perception of cultural compatibility. Oshin may be the most striking illustration of how Japanese programs are more influential in many respects in China than American and other Western programs ever could be. Because Chinese people watch Japanese programs with a common cultural frame of reference, the judgments they render when comparing the two nations have a much different weight and significance.

Oshin — the woman

Oshin was called 'superwoman' (nu qiang ren) by several viewers, a Chinese term that acknowledges someone's true genius and talent. People were amazed that Oshin could continue to focus on the tasks she faced and do so well. In the words of a female Shanghai viewer, 'Oshin can eat the bitter,' a traditional Chinese expression of respect. Her ability to persist is a supreme personal quality. According to a Beijing man, 'The program shows people how to live without fear of what's in their way.' A Shanghai woman added: 'When people have this kind of tolerance they can achieve anything they want.' Another viewer: 'No one can compete with her.' A Beijing man said: 'The woman has a certain goal in life that she wants to come true ... no matter how bad life is, she just keeps going. Yesterday, finally, she moved into her new house!'

Other viewers describe Oshin thus: strong-willed, brave, capable, smart, independent, peaceful (in the program she disagreed with Japan's military involvements), industrious, kind, patient, and optimistic. Moreover, she is praised for her constant desire to improve herself. One female narrator said that 'Oshin is a good role model for our children. Kids can learn from this program not to ignore or discriminate against old people.' Other viewers admire her because she continued to respect her husband despite the hard times they had and the differences that existed between them.

Japan's economic power

Another common theme that emerged in our discussions with viewers about the program was admiration for Japan's recent success as a world economic power and the hope that China can do the same thing. Of course Chinese people knew about japan's economic prosperity years before Oshin was telecast. They had seen revealing pictures on television before, including news coverage of Deng Xiaoping's first visit to Japan (Perkins, 1986: 58). But Oshin personalized the process of economic success. Many viewers believe that Oshin's story reflects what is needed at the individual level for an entire society to prosper. In fact, this general theme coincides perfectly with ideological lessons that Chinese citizens regularly receive.

Oshin's story begins at a time when Japan was demoralized and impoverished economically. The country developed anew from bankruptcy and was saddled with the human devastation of Hiroshima and the immeasurable sadness and embarrassment of having lost the war. Chinese citizens fully realize how far Japan has progressed economically since the late 1940s — the very point in political history when their own nation was established. They suffer from knowing of the great disparity in living standards between the two countries, knowledge that comes from television and by observing the many Japanese tourists who visit China. Nonetheless, many Chinese people feel that if the Japanese can do it, so can they.

Oshin helped Chinese people understand how Japan succeeded. A nuclear scientist who lives in a housing complex in Beijing where many of the country's most respected technical experts reside has an especially insightful description of Oshin:

But viewers also know that the context for Oshin's success in Japan differs in some important ways from China. Her material success was made possible because of the freedom she had to choose her own profession — a theme that contrasts with career realities in China — and because she was able to work within Japan's essentially capitalist economic system. The program makes it clear that Japanese workers are rewarded for taking initiative, even within the boundaries of the collective work ethic that exists there. So, for the millions of Chinese who followed this series — and it was a program that nearly everyone saw — Oshin helped inspire visions of personal freedom that most of them cannot realize, despite the cultural and personal encouragement that the program gave.³

The Unmanageable Culture

The development of friendly relations with Japan, the United States, and other countries has led to the importation of television programs from all over the world. The imported images have become resources in the ongoing construction of distinct, powerful, and irreversible cultural influences — an audience-constructed initiative that draws from highly disparate sources while it also reflects the influence of China's economic and political crisis. The new understandings and perspectives have developed gradually within the past decade. Beverly Hooper saw the wave swelling even before tele vision signals blanketed the cities:

Culture cannot be managed by government decree. The government may be able to fix prices of commodities, but it cannot fix the people's thinking. The stream of cultural imagery that has cut paths through China since 1979 has produced a formidable corpus of alternative visions that has encouraged Chinese people to imagine radical new ways of living. Tele-vision is the foremost instrument in the evolution of the new consciousness, not least of all because of the 'leaky' nature of programming policy in an expanding system, the whirlwind pace of life embraced within the telecommunications age, and the indeterminate nature of ideological and cultural hegemony. Television guarantees that a uniform ideology ca~not be maintained. The resulting contradictory impulses demand a confused, then frustrated, then angry response from at least some of the audience. Ideological disjunctures are particularly striking in China as the shining, singleminded, idealistic visions promoted within the official rhetoric of communism have clouded. The strongest reactions have come from urban residents who have the greatest access to information, including the mass media, a wider variety of human contacts in the course of everyday living, greater education, and less temporally and physically demanding work that permits more time to reflect on the issues.

The closed, smug attitude of the Chinese government has left many people feeling betrayed as they have begun to zealously exercise the greatest human resource — the imagination. And while most people may not wholeheartedly embrace Western ideas, they have a sense now of the complexity of the West — and that, in and of itself, intrigues them. China's staid and stoic society stands in stark contrast to a more diverse and exciting life represented in television's portrayal of foreign lands. This does not mean that the Chinese people are ready to throwaway the essential principles or practices of socialism completely, only that they now demand to face reality. The way viewers compare their own television programs to the imported shows symbolizes the story of the society: Chinese programs are boring and they are not getting better.