Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This article explores affective governance in Chinese reality TV, with a particular focus on See You Again, a divorce-themed program aired on the state-run platform Mango TV. Debuted in conjunction with the Civil Code amendment imposing a divorce cooling-off period, the show is a manifestation of state interest in fostering family stability and social order. Using critical discourse analysis, this research examines how the program constructs dissolution and rekindling of marital relationships in emotionally appealing ways, capitalizing on Confucian values, as well as traces of neoliberal self-management and personal transformation. See You Again does not deliver explicit ideological messages, but it mobilizes viewers through affective techniques connecting forms of emotional comfort with the nation's goals. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion of how reality television functions as a liminal cultural space which forges intimate life and mediates public reaction to state intervention into the private domain.

Keywords

affective governance intimacy reality television cultural zone divorce China

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ahmed

(2004) The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Routledge.

Bai

Song

(2014) Introduction. In: Bai

Song

(eds) Chinese Television in the Twenty-First Century: Entertaining the Nation. Routledge, pp.1–14.

Bell

(2008) China’s New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society. Princeton University Press.

Chang

Ren

(2018) The powerful image and the imagination of power: The “new visual turn” of the CPC’s propaganda strategy since its 18th national congress in 2012. Asian Journal of Communication 28(1): 1–19.

Charmaz

(2014) Constructing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed. Sage.

Chen

(2015) Normalization of the social life: Analysis of the “familization” at the historical turn. Sociological Studies 30(5): 164–188.

Cheung

KCK

(2012) Away from socialism, towards Chinese characteristics: Confucianism and the futures of Chinese nationalism. China Information 26(2): 205–218.

Creemers

(2016) Cyber China: Upgrading propaganda, public opinion work and social management for the twenty-first century. Journal of Contemporary China 26(103): 85–100.

Cui

(2024) Zhang Wanting: Regain the right to be a “crazy woman”. New Weekly, 6 December. Available at: https://neweekly.com.cn/article/shp0048343421 (accessed 15 March 2026).

10.

De Kloet

Landsberger

(2016) Fandom, politics and the Super Girl contest in a globalized China. In: Zwaan

de Bruin

(eds) Adapting Idols: Authenticity, Identity and Performance in a Global Television Format. Routledge, pp.135–148.

11.

Ding

(2025) See You Again, the hit reality TV series in China helping to destigmatise divorce. The Guardian, 16 January. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/16/see-you-again-tv-series-china-divorce-stigma (accessed 15 March 2026).

12.

Dong

(2024) Managing compassion: The affective dynamics of rural representation in the Chinese reality TV show X-Change. Television & New Media 25(1): 41–56.

13.

Esarey

(2021) Propaganda as a lens for assessing Xi Jinping’s leadership. Journal of Contemporary China 30(132): 888–901.

14.

Fairclough

(1992) Discourse and text: Linguistic and intertextual analysis within discourse analysis. Discourse & Society 3(2): 193–217.

15.

Fairclough

(1995) Media Discourse. Edward Arnold.

16.

Fairclough

(2001) Critical discourse analysis as a method in social scientific research. In: Wodak

Meyer

(eds) Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis. Sage, pp.122–136.

17.

Fairclough

Wodak

(1997) Critical discourse analysis. In: Van Dijk

(ed.) Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction. Sage, pp.258–284.

18.

Fang

Repnikova

(2018) Demystifying “Little Pink”: The creation and evolution of a gendered label for nationalistic activists in China. New Media & Society 20(6): 2162–2185.

19.

Foucault

(1991) The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality. University of Chicago Press.

20.

(2025) After facing strong resistance to appearing on Our Dad, Mai Lin posted a long article in response. Southern Metropolis Daily, 13 March. Available at: https://www.nfnews.com/content/Ko7ZQNkn6e.html (accessed 15 March 2026).

21.

Gill

(2007) Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies 10(2): 147–166.

22.

Gong

(2024) Mango TV’s practice of integrating culture and technology. Weixin, 27 December. Available at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YYd2ZYb5n_e58XvWeFsHag (accessed 15 March 2026).

23.

Han

(2018) Searching for an online space for feminism? The Chinese feminist group gender watch women’s voice and its changing approaches to online misogyny. Feminist Media Studies 18(4): 734–749.

24.

Heaney

(2019) Emotion as power: Capital and strategy in the field of politics. Journal of Political Power 12(2): 224–244.

25.

Hunan TV (2021) Leading the trend of the times with a youthful posture: Hunan TV launches innovation upgrade. Weixin, 30 September. Available at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NHG5HvJPPSdQ2BhQ7JhBiw (accessed 15 March 2026).

26.

Illouz

(2007) Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Polity.

27.

Kang

(2004) Benevolent governance: The legitimacy theory of authoritarian states (in Chinese). Zhanlüe Yu Guanli 2: 108–117.

28.

Lagerkvist

(2008) Internet ideotainment in the PRC: National responses to cultural globalization. Journal of Contemporary China 17(54): 121–140.

29.

(2014) If you are the one: Dating shows and feminist politics in contemporary China. International Journal of Cultural Studies 18(5): 519–535.

30.

(2019) Zoning China: Online Video, Popular Culture, and the State. MIT Press.

31.

Lin

(2024) See You Again IV fails to promote Mango TV’s development. Weixin, 5 December. Available at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/jWd6wFozDJDUMvil1VCzCg (accessed 15 March 2026).

32.

Liu

(2019) Formulaic Intimacy: The Rise of Relationship Experts in Contemporary China. The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

33.

(2021) The ambition of a divorce reality show: Making audiences want to get married after watching. Weixin, 27 August. Available at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/uDIWyuBW_ZHBLAY7KNBHPQ (accessed 15 March 2026).

34.

(2010) The Ministry of Civil Affairs has recommended four versions of wedding vows. Netizens think that the vows are not important. Chinanews.com, 15 January. Available at: https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/news/2010/01-15/2073940.shtml (accessed 15 March 2026).

35.

Mango TV (2025) 2025 Mango autumn investment promotion conference. Weixin, 28 October. Available at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6o4QnP8LiNg2Xcyczel1MA (accessed 15 March 2026).

36.

Mast

(2016) The dark side of reality TV: Professional ethics and the treatment of reality show participants. International Journal of Communication 10: 2179–2200.

37.

Network Audiovisual Program Management Department (2025) The 2025 National conference on network audiovisual content management convened in Beijing. NRTA, 14 November. Available at: https://www.nrta.gov.cn/art/2025/11/14/art_114_71994.html (accessed 15 March 2026).

38.

Ngai

(2005) Ugly Feelings. Harvard University Press.

39.

Peng

(2021) Gender essentialism in Chinese reality TV: A case study of You Are So Beautiful. Television & New Media 23(7): 743–760.

40.

Perry

(2002) Moving the masses: Emotion work in the Chinese revolution. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 7(2): 111–128.

41.

Rose

(1999) Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought. Cambridge University Press.

42.

Shambaugh

(2007) China’s propaganda system: Institutions, processes and efficacy. The China Journal 57: 25–58.

43.

Shue

(2022) Regimes of resonance: Cosmos, empire, and changing technologies of CCP rule. Modern China 48(4): 679–720.

44.

Sorace

(2021) The Chinese communist party’s nervous system: Affective governance from Mao to Xi. The China Quarterly 248(S1): 29–51.

45.

STCN (2024) Mango Excellent Media’s revenue exceeded 10 billion Yuan in the first three quarters, with over 70 million subscribers. STCN, 25 October. Available at: https://stcn.com/article/detail/1371901.html (accessed 15 March 2026).

46.

Strauss

Corbin

(1990) Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Sage.

47.

Taussig

(1992) The Nervous System. Routledge.

48.

Van Dijk

(1993) Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & Society 4(2): 249–283.

49.

Wang

(2025) In 2024, 6.106 million couples got married in China, with a divorce rate of 57.5%. Caijing, 31 July. Available at: https://www.mycaijing.com/article/detail/552921?source_id=40 (accessed 15 March 2026).

50.

Wodak

(2001) What CDA is about: A summary of its history, important concepts and its developments. In: Wodak

Meyer

(eds) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. Sage, pp. 1–13.

51.

Wodak

Meyer

(2009) Critical discourse analysis: History, agenda, theory and methodology. In: Wodak

Meyer

(eds) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, 2nd ed. Sage, pp. 1–33.

52.

(2025) See You Again IV comes to an end; behind the buzz lies the secret of intimate relationships. Yicai, 12 January. Available at: https://www.yicai.com/news/102437687.html (accessed 15 March 2026).

53.

Zhang

(2025) Wounded hearts: The affective making of misogynistic male victimhood under the familial sexual contract in precarious China. International Journal of Cultural Studies 28(4): 814–830.

54.

(2016) Speech at the meeting with representatives of the first national civilized families. Xinhuanet, 15 December. Available at: http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-12/15/c_1120127183.htm (accessed 15 March 2026).

55.

Xie

(2021) The affective life of the Nanjing massacre: Reactivating historical trauma in governing contemporary China. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 11(3): 1000–1015.

56.

(2022) Divorce cooling-off period proves effective as complementary counselling services bolster family stability. Legal Daily, 24 October. Available at: http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/sylm/content/2022-10/24/content_8793050.html (accessed 15 March 2026).

57.

Yang

(2015) Unknotting the Heart: Unemployment and Therapeutic Governance in China. Cornell University Press.

58.

Yang

Tang

(2018) Positive energy”: Hegemonic intervention and online media discourse in China’s Xi Jinping era. China: An International Journal 16(1): 1–22.

59.

Yanzhonghuashu (2025) Desensitizing the shame of parting, so we can embrace more bravely. Xiaoyuzhoufm, 19 March. Available at: https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episode/67d938efdd11f9c8c1669017 (accessed 15 March 2026).

60.

(2023) Chinese Reality Show Explores ‘Strong Woman, Weak Man’ Marriages, Sparks Debate. Sixth Tone, 03 October. Available at: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1013840 (accessed 15 March 2026).

61.

Zhang

Ong

(2008) Privatizing China: Socialism from afar. Cornell University Press.

62.

Zhang

(2015) NRTA overhauls reality TV programs. Xinhuanet, 24 July. Available at: http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-07/24/c_128053225.htm (accessed 15 March 2026).

63.

Zhang

Zhu

(2020) Xi Jinping on the cultural and creative industries: Uphold integrity and innovation, adhere to the correct orientation. Xinhuanet, 18 September. Available at: https://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-09/18/c_1126509217.htm (accessed 15 March 2026).

64.

Zhang

Tang

(2026) Postfeminism with Chinese characteristics: The rise of the postfeminist intellectual celebrity in digital China. Feminist Media Studies. Epub ahead of print 29 January 2026. DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2026.2622442.

65.

Zhankaijiangjiang (2024) See You Again producer Liu Le: People on the edge of a cliff always have stories to tell. Xiaoyuzhoufm, 12 January. Available at: https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episode/65a081c522268627afced188 (accessed 15 March 2026).

66.

Zheng

(2024) How much money did Mango TV earn from Mai Lin? Weixin, 17 November. Available at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qb1PntBmhMTcPROB6t-yLQ (accessed 15 March 2026).

67.

Zou

(2025) Mango TV’s active membership reached 73 million by the end of 2024. Economic Information Daily, 27 April. Available at: http://jjckb.xinhuanet.com/20250427/74c45fc19bf84909a3161784cd47c11e/c.html (accessed 15 March 2026).

Teaching marital intimacy: Affective governance in Chinese divorce reality television

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References