Before your next (or first) trip to China you might want to take a week and read a monument of a bookCHINAS MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAW (VOL II) by Trans-Asia Lawyers, who seem well-connected to the Chinese government and the China media scene.

Reading this book will probably take you the full week. It is in both English and Chinese and weighs in at a whopping 1400 pages. Consider yourself lucky that you need only read half the book.

In truth this monument is quite impressive. As expected it is very thorough, covering everything from television to event management. All applicable legislation appears to be included. My greatest praise for the volume is that it is very readable and transparent. Credit should be given to Helen Sunderland, Chief Editor, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and a lawyer who has worked in China for seven years. Sunderland and her three managing editors appear to have pulled of the impossible: making Chinese law and government regulations understandable and at times even interesting.

The sheer breadth of this book underscores how seriously the Chinese government is in controlling media. Even in a fast changing digital world government officials have not met a media they cannot regulate.  Fifty years ago the only television station on Chinese television was the state owned Beijing Television (later renamed China Central TelevisionCCT) which remains strictly under Communist Party control.

Television

Today television is the largest media sector in China with approximately 2,000 channels broadcast throughout the country on more than 360 television stations. As CHINAS MEDIA notes, As nascent technologies, such as Internet-based television (Internet Protocol Television or IPTV) and mobile phone broadcasting advance, they are certain to blur delimitations imposed by current regulations and industry practices.  Foreign companies can participate in co-production, advertising and infrastructure development but cannot be involved in the operation of domestic stations. Piracy, intellectual property issues and operating media in China as local utilities have hampered growth in this sector.

The hoped-for liberalization of Chinese media suffered a setback in 2005 when the government tightened the reins on media, including television.  The purported reason in what was termed a smokeless war was the governments effort to safeguard national cultural security and prevent a cultural trade deficit against foreign influence in Chinas media.  CHINAS MEDIA notes that there was speculation that officials were concerned foreign media companies wanted to spark a color revolution similar to what occurred in the USSR.

While nothing in China is what it seems, there has been considerable coverageoutside this bookon this very matter. The Financial Times recently reported that issues relating to a perceived invasion of foreign culture are worrisome to the Chinese. Zhu Wong of Beijings State Administration of radio, Film, and Television complained openly of the trade imbalance when it comes to cultural products such as music and movies. He has a point. In 2005 3,000 overseas TV dramas were bought by Chinese broadcaster and 10,000 minutes of cartoonsabout one third of the total broadcast. And yes, Mickey Mouse is the most popular character.  One can readily argue that the real villains are the Chinese media companies who do not produce compelling content.

One reasons for the lack of compelling content might be the countless pages of Rules for the Administration of Television Dramas.  A television program cant offend the state, divulge state secrets, slander other people, spread obscenities or superstition, or incite ethnic separation.

The authors surmise that it would be surprising if the existing strict censorship rules are not relaxed at or about the time of the Beijing Olympics.  Some companies have not waited.  Time Warner recently announced that it would pull out of its Chinese joint-venture cinema theater business because of tightened restrictions.

Print

According to CHINAS MEDIA print media has been relied on and fiercely guarded by a succession of rulers from dynastic emperors to the Communist party of China (CPC). The present regime has continued to control all aspects of publishing and printing for the purposes of disseminating state propaganda.  Until the 1990s Chinese publishers pretty much operated as department of provincial and local governments who financed them.  Mandatory subscription schemes kept these magazines in business. There was little or no concern for profitability, advertising, competition and the needs of the readers.

China is paradox and the central paradox is this: the government wants a robust media industry in a highly censorious environment. Equally paradoxical, is that despite its onerous restrictions, the Chinese government has had some success in opening up its media. In the last decade domestic publishing has improved. Most international publishing and media companies are doing business in Chinathere are some notable exceptions.  State publishing monopolies have been forced to compete. The consolidation of twelve printing and publishing organizations in 2002 to form the China Publishing Group gave the domestic market more leverage.

China has approved more than 112 foreign investments in the printing sector since the revision of Printing Regulations in 2001. This is where China badly needs help and the government wants the money to flow.

This book is worth buying just for the Regulations for the Administration of Periodical Publications effective December 1, 2005.  Some of the regulations underscore how far China media development has yet to travel: The publication of periodicals shall continue to be guided by the principles of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory.  In this spirit the focus should be on social and economic benefits, the development of science and technology, and economic and social progress.

While these principles obviously reflect government thinking, they seem a long way from the competitive, energetic and somewhat anarchic Chinese publishing scene.

CHINAS MEDIA is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative book I have read on the subject.  The writers and editors, while having good access to government authorities, display a refreshing independence.  They are not reluctant to express a opinions on the consequences of onerous regulations. 

The book was made possible by the support of Time Warner, BPA Wordwide, NBC Universal, The Motions Picture Association, IMG, MPA and others.

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