Social and cultural change in China is often discussed as a single and coherent phenomenon. However, this ignores the vast array of local and regional variations within the country's borders. The stratification that has resulted from China's economic reforms, while often measured in purely economic terms, is also intrinsically social and spatial, and as a result there are now many 'Chinas' within the borders of the People's Republic of China. Importantly, China's media have the distinction of being both a reflection of this social-spatial stratification as well as crucial agents in its creation. Mapping Media in China is the first book-length study that goes below the 'national' scale to focus on media in China from local, provincial and regional angles. It marks a distinctive 'spatial turn' in the study of Chinese media, and is unique in systematically and explicitly bringing together scholarship from China studies and media and communication studies to examine some of the rich diversity of local and provincial media that have taken root -- not always easily -- across contemporary China.
With its interweaving of themes and materials from a broad range of disciplines together with its emphasis on digging beneath the surface of the official national media, the volume will be used by researchers and students at both graduate and undergraduate levels in the areas of China studies, media studies and Asian studies.