George Dawei Guo
George Dawei
Guo started his Ph.D. research in September 2006 at the
University of Westminster, where he was awarded a three-year
fee-waiver scholarship by the China Media Centre. As a native-born
Chinese, he completed his MA in Cultural Studies at the Center for
Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2006.
Before he came to study in London he had worked as a lecturer at
the Communication University of China in Beijing from 2002 to
2005.
Abstract of the Ph.D. Thesis
Genre and Audiences: the Reception of
Television Historical Dramas in China
This project critically examines contemporary Chinese audience
responses to television historical dramas (dianshi
lishiju). I plan to conduct a qualitative audience study of
how the television historical dramas are understood and socially
and culturally valued in contemporary China, considering personal,
social, historical and cultural issues that relate to viewers’
engagement with this television genre.
Dianshi lishiju here refers to a
specific type of contemporary historical drama. In the mid-1990s a
wave of dramatic serials featuring the legendary figures of China’s
bygone dynasty began to dominate dramatic programming in Chinese
primetime television. The trend climaxed in the late 1990s and the
early 2000s with saturation programming of palace dramas set in the
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), what Chinese critics termed “Qing Drama”.
From the early 2000s till now more dramas like these dealing with
historical figures and events of different periods of ancient
Chinese history have been produced and aired nationwide in China.
According to the ‘Report on Development of China’s Radio, Film and
Television in 2006’, the television historical drama has been
listed AT the top of the audiences’ favorite television genres in
the last decade. In the meantime, the Report shows that the
television historical dramas are the highest selling prime-time
programs on the China Central Television (CCTV), the leading
national television station in China.
Research on historical drama has mainly
focused on the drama texts themselves and only little attention has
been paid to the question of how these dramas are understood by
their viewers on a daily basis. Moreover, there is no empirical
data about how viewers value these dramas and how this relates to
their interaction with social changes. Furthermore, there are no
audience studies in this field that provide knowledge about how the
television historical drama as a cultural category can be
deconstructed based on the social and cultural situations in China.
This project aims to provide empirical research that can contribute
to a broader understanding of contemporary Chinese television
audiences.
Keywords
history, genre, quality, audiences, Chinese television, qualitative
methodology
Supervisors
Professor Annette Hill and Dr. Roza
Tsagarousianou
Research Interests
Television genres
Audiences studies/Reception studies
Popular culture and cultural citizenship
Recently Taught Modules at the University of
Westminster
BA Understanding News Media (Spring Term
2007)
Recent Conference Paper
‘In the Middle of Everywhere: Visualizing
Women in Contemporary Chinese Family-morality Television Dramas’,
accepted by the International Communication Association’s
(ICA) 57th annual conference in San Francisco,
California.
Contact Details
E-mail: georgedawei @
hotmail.com
University address
Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI)
School of Media, Arts and Design
Watford Road, Northwick Park
Harrow, HA1 3TP
United Kingdom