Contents -- List of Tables and Ilustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter One Introduction: Cultural Governance and Chinese TV Drama Series -- Chinese TV Content between Liberalisation and Control -- Regulating TV Content to Regulate Chinese Society-An Issue of Cultural Governance -- Researching Popular TV Series-A Semiotic Approach to Visual Discourse -- Structure of This Book -- Part One Political Discourse in Popular TV Series -- Chapter Two The State and its Officials in TV Dramas -- Emperor Wu-The Benevolent Ruler -- The Commissioner and His Superior-Devoted CCP Officials and Government Leaders -- Professional Bureaucrats and Effective State Administration -- Chapter Three Securing the State: Law Enforcement and Military Action -- Human Trafficking and Loitering: Public Security as Comical Plot Complication -- Strong Men and Their War Against Crime -- Securing the Homeland Through Warfare -- Chapter Four Justifying the State: Political Legitimacy and Accountability -- Wholeheartedly Serving the People -- The Perfect Hero and Model Worker -- The Masses Are Watching -- Constructing the General Public -- Part Two The Factors of Discourse Production -- Chapter Five Creating the Political Discourses of TV Dramas -- Chinese Production Companies -- Risks and Moral Hazards in China's Drama Market -- Investors and Their Motives -- Creatives at Work-Planning and Producing a TV Drama Series -- Selling the Drama-Marketing and Distribution in the Chinese TV Drama Market -- The Buyers: TV Stations and Their Motives -- The Forces of Production -- Chapter Six The Chinese Television Drama Audience -- Constructing the Audience: The Chinese Audience Measurement System -- Finding an Audience: Who Watches TV Dramas in China? -- Addressing the Audience: Broadcasting Conventions and Viewing Habits -- Likes and Dislikes: The Genres that Audiences Watch.

TV as a Public Sphere? The Role of Audience Feedback -- Chapter Seven Government Regulations and Censorship Mechanisms -- Effectiveness of Media Governing Mechanisms -- State Institutions Involved in Television Censorship -- The Party's Propaganda System -- Legal and Administrative Censorship Tools -- Money Rules-The Financial Side of Censorship -- Anacondas in Chandeliers-Uncertainty as a Governance Mechanism -- A New Snake Nesting in the Chandelier? The Power of Persuasion -- Chapter Eight Chinese Perceptions of Television's Function and Influence -- Media Content's Impact on Viewers -- Possible Effects of Harmful Content -- Risk Groups -- Justifications of Censorship and Government Control in China -- Putting Censorship Advocacy into Perspective -- The Didactical Functions of TV -- Making Successful Dramas -- The Psychological and Social Relevance of TV Drama -- Chapter Nine Conclusion: Chinese TV Discourses and the Factors of their Production -- Homogeneity in Drama Discourses and the Didactics of TV Entertainment -- Visuality, Emotions, and the Construction of Imagined Community -- The Ruptures in TV Drama Discourses -- The Factors of Drama Production -- The Effectiveness of Cultural Governance -- Glossary of Technical Terms -- Bibliography -- Appendix -- Appendix 1a: Methodological Notes-Analysing TV Drama Content -- Appendix 1b: Methodological Notes-Interview Analysis -- Appendix 2: Central Members of the Production Team and Their Functions -- Appendix 3: Directors -- Appendix 4: Positive Viewer Feedback as Presented by CUC Researchers (Li 2007: 229-231 -- Author's Translation) -- Appendix 5: Negative Viewer Feedback as Presented by CUC Researchers (Li 2007: 231 -- Author's Translation) -- Appendix 6: Main Functions of the SARFT (国家广电总局主 ) -- Appendix 7: SARFT Organisational Structure and Main Jurisdictions.

Appendix 8: 2004 SARFT Censorship Regulation-State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Decree No. 40 -- Index.