| 1 | 1 | | Under the reform policies of the present party leadership, China is humming with |
| 2 | | individual commercial activity; the stern, collectivist ethic is all but gone. Popular TV |
| 3 | | dramas like A New Star bring to the screen a candid glimpse of this twist in social values. |
| 4 | | It is set in the countryside, and chronicles the break-up of the collective farm under an |
| 5 | | impatient new reformist broom. The old machinery is auctioned off to the highest |
| 6 | | bidders; fights break out, and the loss of the spirit of collective community is lamented. |
| 7 | | Extraordinarily, the play does not preach: it leaves the viewer to assess the moral price to |
| 8 | | be paid in following state policies. |
| 2 | 9 | | Li Hailin, the Shanghai TV station's new editor, dismisses any suggestion that |
| 10 | | Chinese television could be the world's biggest experiment in mind control: 'No |
| 11 | | government wants to boast about the docile obedience of its people; it wants to be able |
| 12 | | to say that its citizens are the most industrious, the bravest and the most intelligent. The |
| 13 | | function of a government is to manage, not to control.' |
| 3 | 14 | | The criterion controlling news, says Li Hailin, is that 'nothing should be broadcast |
| 15 | | which goes against socialism and the Communist party'. But China Central Television's |
| 16 | | deputy Director-General, Mr Chen, admits 'it is impossible that we should think exactly |
| 17 | | the same as the government all the time ... it could be that the government's ideas are not |
| 18 | | altogether correct or lopsided. When this happens, we always think it is hard enough to |
| 19 | | handle a family of ten, let alone a country of a billion people; we feel it is our duty as |
| 20 | | television workers to help the government run this country well. So when there are |
| 21 | | problems we tend to solve them by consulting rather than insulting each other on |
| 22 | | television - because abusing each other can achieve nothing but plunge the country into |
| 23 | | a chaotic state.' |
| 4 | 24 | | The Chinese television lens produces the sharpest social focus in its advice |
| 25 | | programmes. Viewers write in to their electronic bosom friend, and an audience of 350 |
| 26 | | million follows the wisdom of Shen Li, television's most popular agony aunt. Her |
| 27 | | programme deals with the problems caused by some of China's vast experiments in social |
| 28 | | engineering, like the rule limiting children to only one per family. As a result of this |
| 29 | | policy, China is in danger of becoming a nation of spoilt brats. Shen Li's programme |
| 30 | | provides careful parental counselling. Many of her letters are from teenagers, awkward |
| 31 | | and unsure about how to cope with the demands of fashion, image and style. |
| 5 | 32 | | It's a new social agenda set, in part, by television itself. Entertainment programmes |
| 33 | | are as slick and showy as most in the West - indeed, the unprecedentedly large number |
| 34 | | of broken marriages is blamed on television glamour, which, it's said, has left many |
| 35 | | people dissatisfied with their marital lot. Television advertising, too, inevitably raises |
| 36 | | expectations, which, left unsatisfied, sour into envious discontent. The TV counter in |
| 37 | | Shanghai's biggest department store is besieged by customers c1amouring for the biggest |
| 38 | | and best colour sets. |
| 6 | 39 | | What hope, then, of China's unique cultural identity surviving the coming of telly? |
| 40 | | Those who believe in the Gresham Law of television, that bad programmes drive out |
| 41 | | good ones, may not be very optimistic. Broadcasters set out with the intention of giving |
| 42 | | the public what's good for them, but it's not long before the audience rebels against |
| 43 | | eating up its crusts, and demands immediate access to the chocolate cake. |
| 7 | 44 | | China's TV bosses admit that, to begin with, they treated their audience as children; |
| 45 | | 'but now these "children" have grown up, and can think for themselves. We must |
| 46 | | upgrade our standards accordingly. If our audience are, so to speak, university graduates, |
| 47 | | we in television must be, as it were, university professors of profound and extensive |
| 48 | | learning. Otherwise,' says Mr Chen, 'we shouldn't be in our jobs.' |
| | | |
| | | from The Listener', October 9, 1986 |
