Media/Cultural Product Exchanges between China and Taiwan

Abstract

For four decades there were virtually no exchanges of media/cultural products between China and Taiwan. This situation began to change around the late 1970s and the early 1980s. Now, media/cultural exchanges between the two have reached an unprecedented level. Changes in their media/cultural relations have been closely related to changes in their economic and political relations. The cultural interaction is both a reflection and a result of their ongoing political integration. This article examines the media/cultural exchanges between China and Taiwan in the last 15 years or so, and their main characteristics and implications. The study discusses the motivations for the changes, the various factors contributing to the changes, and the impact of the changes. The research is primarily based on the author's recent research trips to China and Taiwan and conducted essentially with an analytic approach and first-hand data.