Cultural Revoluation in China - 863 Words

One of the most significant changes occurred in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. During the revolution itself, China was virtually cut off from the rest of the world in a form of extreme â€Å"cultural protectionism† (Hong, 1998, p.2). There was a severe lack of cultural imports during the Cultural Revolution, regardless of whether they were industrial or cultural imports. However, under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, an era of reform began in China. The nation began to open itself up politically and economically, leading to widespread importation of foreign products during the 1980s. Some of the complexities of Chinese media start to emerge during this period, particularly in the interaction between global and local forces. The importation of Western goods is a combination of both internal and external factors. From a global or external standpoint, factors include the popularity of Western products, the rise of global trade, and worldwide technological development. On the other hand, internal factors deal more with changes in government intervention, new media policies, and shifts in the makeup of society itself (Hong, 1998, p.3). With the opening up of China in the 1980s, the country soon became one of the biggest buyers in the global television programming market. Massive importation soon led to imitation, as can be seen in the importation and imitation of telenovelas. In this case, it was specifically the impact of the global product being consumed in a local market that