Journal Description
Global Media and China is a peer-reviewed, open access journal, which provides a dedicated, interdisciplinary forum for research. The journal welcomes articles on all aspects of international research in the field of communication and media studies and has a particular interest in how global media are impacting on, and are in turn being transformed by China, specifically Chinese institutions, industries and audiences. Research on digital platforms, social media and related policy is welcome. Please see the Aims and Scopes tab for further information.
This journal is the official journal of the Communication University of China.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Why publish in Global Media and China?
- A dedicated, interdisciplinary forum for international research on communication and media with a focus on China
- Rigorous peer review of your scholarly work
- Rapid online publication
Open access article processing charge (APC) information
This journal is financially supported by the Communication University of China and therefore does not charge an article processing charge for open access publication.
Submission information
Submit your manuscript today at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gmac
Please see the Submission Guidelines tab for more information on how to submit your article to the journal.
Contact
Please direct any queries to cuc_gmc@126.com
Journal Feed
- by Xiaoling ZhangGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. Situated against the recent tumultuous backdrop of Sino–U.S. relations, this study examines the coverage of the November 2023 Xi–Biden Summit by the People’s Daily and China Daily. As authoritative, national-level media outlets reflecting party policies, the People’s Daily, published in Chinese, primarily caters to a domestic audience, while China Daily, in English, targets an international readership. Using framing analysis grounded in agenda-setting theory, this paper investigates how these two outlets presented the summit to foster public support for China’s U.S. policy, particularly after a decade of predominantly negative portrayals. The study examines which […]
- by Johnathan HarringtonGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. In this paper, I argue that while regional platformisation often takes a utilitarian role, replacing services which are not offered as readily outside of global platforms’ strong reach, there is also an underemphasised performative role as these same online websites become integral to platform-dependent subcultures and their identity formation. I look at board game geeks, who share a culture as much about playing games as it is about performing an identity through collecting games, discussing new releases, and sharing knowledge and enthusiasm with other geeks. Through this I argue that as geek culture […]
- by Lei HaoGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. This study investigates the role of Douyin, internationally known as TikTok, in shaping the presentation and perception of minzu (ethnicity) among ethnic minority wanghongs (internet celebrities) in China. It examines how Douyin’s techno-social environment, particularly the “surveillance technicity” embedded within its algorithms, interacts with the content production and engagement practices of ethnic minority creators, thereby co-constructing their self-perception and expression of ethnic identity. The paper emphasizes how wanghongs navigate both technology and identity, strategically crafting and materializing their minzu narratives within the constraints and opportunities of this digital platform. It highlights the complex […]
- by Dakai WeiGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. Following the Chinese State Council’s ban on commercial gaming consoles and the rise of computer game piracy, foreign video game companies began to withdraw from investing in Chinese game translations in the early 2000s. In response, fan translation emerged as an alternative for Chinese gamers. ‘Fan translation’ refers to unofficial translations produced by enthusiasts for various types of media. Specifically, fan translation of video games involves online collaboration among players to translate foreign titles, with the goal of providing an accessible and enjoyable experience that stays true to the original content. In light […]
- by HongLan XuGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. Twenty years of game scholarship established that players form profound attachments to the virtual worlds and inhabitants of Massively Multiplayer Online [MMO-]games, that are near-indistinguishable from their attachment to offline relationships. However, the shutdown of World of Warcraft’s Chinese servers on January 24th, 2023, ended those attachments on a massive scale for millions of players, after 18 years. How did Chinese players experience and grieve their loss after the World of Warcraft [WoW] server shutdown? By examining this online catastrophic event, we research the shadow-side of attachment: grief over the loss of one’s […]
- Global Media and China, Volume 9, Issue 4, Page 542-542, December 2024.
- by Yeyang CaoGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. The bullet comment refers to a real-time built-in comment system attached to online video services on the Chinese Internet. It provides a mechanism transforming online spectatorship into an “audiencing” experience. This study interviews 16 bullet comment users to explore the digital media practices in bullet comments. We argue that the “audiencing” subjects are involved as players in the imagined communities through emotional invitations, implicit cultural “contract,” and diverse textual hijacking strategies. It is a digitalized subject deep play with the stake of cultural interpretation mastery. Based on space discourse deep play, the bullet […]
- by Muyao JiangGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print.
- by Christina KefalaGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. This article examines how Western brands and white Western entrepreneurs employ representations of whiteness in advertising their products on China’s social media platforms. While research has effectively revealed the prevalence of white hegemony in advertising, few studies have addressed the representation of whiteness in non-Western contexts such as China. Focusing on the largest and highly digitized retailing industry in Asia, this article examines branding used by Western brands and white Western entrepreneurs in their advertising campaigns. The analysis delves into how Western products resonate with China’s Gen Z consumers, and how advertising campaigns […]
- by Tendai ChariGlobal Media and China, Volume 9, Issue 4, Page 451-468, December 2024. Deploying Michel Foucault’s discourse theory, this article qualitativey explores Sino-Zimbabwe engagements in four Zimbabwe newspapers to shed insights into how these relations are interpreted in a context. How the newspapers discursively constructed Sino-Zimbabwe engagements, the rationale for such constructions, as well as the perceptions of journalists on these engagements are questions at the core of this exploration. The article revealed competing discourses between the state-owned and the privately owned newspapers in relation to China–Zimbabwe engagements. Among the journalists, the study found mixed views, ranging from optimism, scepticism, and […]
- by Yuruo LeiGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. In the contemporary media landscape in China, short video platforms (SVP) have emerged as significant news sources, especially among young audiences. Anchored in an understanding of news literacy as situated knowledge, this study investigates how Chinese youth (aged 13–18) perceive and engage with news content on these platforms. Based on qualitative interviews with 30 middle and high school students across five provinces in China, we found that 1) participants wanted short video news to be objective and straightforward, and felt that the affordances of short video platforms detract from these values; 2) they […]
- by Xiaoyan YeGlobal Media and China, Volume 9, Issue 4, Page 521-541, December 2024. With the advent of the post-pandemic era characterised by increasing social uncertainty, the public is placing higher demands on the trust in news media. According to the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, the image of the media in the public’s mind is deteriorating. Why don’t they trust the media? What are the reasons given by the public when the media is denounced as unscrupulous? Taking the Liu Xuezhou incident as a typical case, the study extracts key elements from 5,225 related microblog texts, identifies the main topics of public […]
- by Wanning SunGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. This paper engages closely with the perspectives of a particular cohort of Chinese-Australians: first-generation Mandarin-speaking migrants in Australia from the PRC. It aims to examine their responses and reactions to mainstream English-language news stories about their community and about the PRC. Drawing on data from a large quantitative survey, 20 in-depth interviews, and three group discussions, the paper explores three dimensions: how members of this cohort see themselves portrayed in the media; how they see the PRC being portrayed in the media; and what impact they believe such portrayals have on the Australian […]
- by Yan DuGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. This article investigates how China’s Wanghong (a Chinese term referring to online influencers’) in Japan engage in cultural and economic practices through transnational homeland social media. Particular attention is given to the characteristics of how they utilise Chinese social media and the ways in which pressures emanating from the homeland-media environment have moulded their distinctive approaches to participating in media practices. Combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the data on which this research is based consists of China’s statistical data concerning Wanghong, empirical data generated from interviews with nine China’s Wanghong in Japan, and […]
- by Laura PrantedduGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. Artificial intelligence has become increasingly pervasive throughout the entire news cycle. In response to this trend, this paper explores journalists’ sociotechnical imaginaries concerning the integration of AI in news production, focusing on their perceptions of AI’s opportunities and ethical challenges. The study also examines the influence of diverse media and discourse cultures on these perceptions by conducting problem-centered interviews with journalists from China, Japan, Switzerland, and the UK. Through an inductive thematic analysis of the interviews, the results reveal that journalists across these four countries acknowledge the potential advantages of AI in journalism, […]
- by Danzhou LiGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. Artistic interventions in communities have become increasingly prevalent in the context of quality-led urbanization and rural revitalization in China over the past decade. These art practices reflect a narrative of resistance toward the institutionalization, professionalization, and marketization of contemporary art through direct interventions in social reality. Community is the most common site from which public aesthetic action and social activism emerge to increase public awareness and promote community engagement. With the rise of new media technologies, multi-media have gradually been combined in socially engaged art projects, which has blurred the boundaries between concrete […]
- by Jia GuoGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. In this article, I explore how women’s singleness is represented by ‘living-alone’ wanghong on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小红书) and discuss the configuration of Chinese postfeminist wanghong culture. The term ‘“living-alone” wanghong’ refers to a group of Chinese vloggers – mostly women – who showcase their daily lives in domestic spaces while living by themselves. ‘Living-alone’ wanghong narrate their singleness as an autonomous choice that leads to a happy, high-quality, and bourgeois life. This narrative is distinct from the stigmatised ‘shengnü’ (剩女, leftover women) discourse in contemporary urban China. By conducting […]
- by Zexu GuanGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. This article examines the crucial encounter between wanghong and e-commerce in the specific process of China’s platformization. We develop a threefold (macro-meso-micro) approach that combines perspectives from political economy, critical industry studies, and ethnographic research to identify and unpack the heterogeneous actors and actions in the evolution of wanghong e-commerce, using beauty wanghong as a case study. Drawing upon document studies (146 documents between 2001 and 2022) and 21 semi-structured interviews (supplemented by ethnographic field observations over seven months in 2018), we argue that: first, the contrast between strong consumer demand (activated by […]
- by Xinyu ZhaoGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. This article explores how overseas Chinese parent wanghong (网红, internet celebrities) document, curate, and share their everyday life of parenting on Douyin, one of the most actively used short video platforms in China. Wanghong in this article refers to Chinese parents who were born in China and have migrated outside of the country with children or to form families, and who have attracted online audience and fame by sharing their everyday family life with children and as parents. Despite the technological boundaries between Douyin and its international counterpart (i.e. TikTok), many overseas Chinese, […]
- by Xiaoting YuGlobal Media and China, Ahead of Print. In China, livestream guilds represent a significant secondary sector within the wanghong economy. These organisations are similar in many ways to multichannel networks (MCN), the bridge between video-based and streaming-based social media platforms and creators. As the wanghong industry institutionalises, livestream guilds have become a vital player in the governing infrastructure of platform economy. This paper introduces the term ‘satellite intermediaries’ to describe an extended layer of cultural intermediation within the production side of the platform economy. Through a critical analysis of the media management practices and dispositions of Chinese livestream guilds professionals, […]