Food media in China’s convergence culture: A Bite of China and digital poaching

Abstract

Since its debut on China Central Television (CCTV), Shejian shang de Zhongguo (舌尖上的中国, known as ‘A Bite of China’, hereinafter Shejian) has met with great fanfare, home and abroad, and become a celebrated geographical brand name of Chinese culinary culture. Shejian marks a distinctive attribute of China’s contemporary food media, which deploys glamourized food images, from ordinary staple food to lavish celebratory meals, to reify social prosperity and personal happiness. This article aims to demonstrate how despite its state-sponsored production and distribution, Shejian is more than an ideological artefact. The cultural phenomenon has thrived at the intersection of China’s media convergence and participatory culture. On the one side, Shejian’s unprecedented success and influence should be attributed to CCTV’s convergence strategies against the backdrop of media reforms. On the other, audience participation and re-creation on the Internet have invigorated the formation and spread of the Shejian phenomenon while problematizing the official interpretation and ideological construction of the documentary. Shejian’s savvy viewers and cynical imitators poach the florid documentary script to write their versions of reality, albeit disguised with profanity and laughter. How the widespread egao practices play with the establishment culture and how such online expressions are tolerated by the authorities shed new light on China’s Internet culture and censorship.