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‘Think globally, act locally’

China's rendezvous with MTV

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Using the case of MTV China, this article examines how transnational media corporations have been extending into China where ideological control and joint business cooperation remain barriers for foreign capital. Based on interviews with personnel of MTV, as well as observations of their programme productions, this article explores how MTV localizes in China under various economic and political constraints. It argues that the localization process is not a planned strategy that seeks to circumvent Chinese authorities. Instead, it is argued that transnational corporations have devised methods to maximize manoeuverability within the various political and economic constraints, and tune into the cultural and political configurations encountered. Whereas most academic studies have asserted that authoritarian states set high thresholds to prevent global capital from ‘Westernizing’ the culture, this article argues that the Chinese state, in various forms, is now flexible enough to work closely with Viacom in producing a new popular youth culture.

Key Words: China • globalization • localization • modernity • MTV • popular culture • WTO

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