China Media Centre

2010 Spring Seminar Series

Title: Enhancing creativity in German and Chinese publishing houses –A comparison

Speaker: Mania Strube (University of Hamburg),

Visiting Scholar in University of Westminster

Date: Wednesday 10^th February, 2010

Time: 2.00-4.00 pm

Venue: A4-8,9    University of Westminster, Harrow Campus

Abstract:

The question of how to promote creativity is crucial for media companies all over the world. Not only the production of media products requires a constant need for creativity, also the increasing competitive pressure in the media industry makes continuous innovation necessary to achieve competitive advantages in the market (Picard, 2002). Against this background, it is surprising that there has not been developed a coherent theory of promoting creativity in the media industry. Only Küng (2004, 2008) has theoretically applied theories of creativity enhancement to the media industry at the organizational level. These works, however, do not consider cultural differences that influence the understanding and promotion of creativity (Lubart, 1999).

This presentation reports on a publication that adapts the concept of creativity enhancement to the media industry including a cross-cultural perspective. Factors of the work environment are identified that enhance creativity in different cultures. A survey is planned to test the framework on editorial staff in German and Chinese publishing houses.

Biography:

Mania Strube is a PhD student in media management from the University of Hamburg and a visiting scholar at the China Media Centre. She holds a business administration degree with a special focus on international management.

The presented publication is part of her dissertation “Internationalization strategies in the media industry – Creativity and learning in an intercultural context”. She has spent several research periods at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and will return this March for the empirical survey of the publication.

25 MA students  from Hong Kong Baptist University, specialising in Financial Journalism, attended the CMC study trip “Financial and Economic Reporting in the UK” from 3 January until 10 January 2010. The delegation was lead by Prof Huang Yu, who took his PhD at the University of Westminster under Professor Colin Sparks and is Head of Department of Journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University. Among highlights were visits to the Financial Times, London Stock Exchange, BBC and City of London. The trip was designed by Dr Zeng Rong and managed by Alja Kranjec.

                                                                                                                       中国软实力

                                                                           英国威斯敏斯特大学中国传媒中心2010年年会征文通告
                                                                                            主办：英国威斯敏斯特大学 中国传媒中心
                                                                                            联办：中国人民大学新闻学院
                                                                                            伦敦2010年4月8日至9日
 
          英国威斯敏斯特大学中国传媒中心（The China Media Center, University of Westminster）是目前欧洲唯一一所致力于中国媒体研究的学术机构。继2005年6月正式成立以来，将于2010年4月8日至9日在英国伦敦举办第六界年会。本届年会将有威斯敏斯特大学中国传媒中心与中国人民大学新闻学院联合举办，年会主题为“中国软实力”（China’s soft power）。欢迎海内外学者、专家、同学及媒介从业者积极参会。
 
          中国经济实力的迅猛增长已悄然更新了中国的国际影响力。奥巴马的中国之行，G2格局的有效建立都印证着这样一个得到国际普遍认同的事实：今天，中国正在世界经济格局中扮演着核心角色。追溯历史，经济实力的腾飞总是伴随着国际文化影响力的提升——足球，好莱坞以及卡拉OK都是便随着大国经济腾飞而走向世界的 “舶来品”。毫无疑问，中国的经济地位将会同样影响中国文化的全球传播。
 
          中国及世界各国都已认识到了这一趋势。中国政府推出了“走出去”的战略，旨在全球推广中国语言、传播中国文化、发展中国媒体。同时，曾满足于向西方购买节目或模仿西方节目样式的中国的广播电视界，今日也正蓄势进军国际市场，他们的角色已悄然变为卖家。
 
         我们热诚的欢迎诸位共同关注这一动人心魄的进程。本届年会的讨论将围绕以下诸多主题展开，当然，我们的研究和讨论绝不仅限于如下主题：

•   经济实力与文化实力关系的理论探讨
•  向海外推广中国语言及文化的官方努力
• 中国国际新闻媒体
• 中国媒体的国际战略
• 中国文化在国际市场中的竞争力是什么？
•  “原汁原味”的中国文化是否会因投放国际市场的诉求而受到威胁？
• 国际社会对中国文化输出的回应
•  中国文化国际影响力的历史经验
• 展望世界舞台上的中国媒体及文化

         如您有兴趣参加年会，请于2010年1月31日前将不超过250字的英文论文梗概发给密淼女士m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk.
 
         同时，会议组织者将竭尽全力为参会的优秀论文创造发表的机会。若您想了解关于本次年会和中国传媒中心的其它咨询，请您访问中国传媒中心的主页：http://chinamediacentre.org/

China’s Soft Power

                         A Conference organised by the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster
                                                                                     309 Regent Street, London W1 UK
                                                                                                    April 8th and 9th 2010
 
The dramatic economic growth in China has meant a renewed international influence.  President Obama’s recent visit, and the effective establishment of the “G2,” marked international recognition of the fact that China is, today, a central actor in the world economy.  Historically, economic power has always been accompanied by increasing international cultural influence – soccer, Hollywood and karaoke are just some of the things bequeathed by other big economies to the rest of the world.  It is certain that China’s economic stature will also be reflected in the diffusion of Chinese culture. 
 
This reality is already recognised by many in China and outside.  The Chinese government has a “going out” strategy, aiming to make the Chinese language, Chinese culture, and the Chinese media more visible internationally.  At the same time, broadcasters who were once content to buy programmes and copy western models are today planning to enter the international market place as sellers of their own products. 
 
The organisers invite papers on all aspects of these developments.  Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
·         Theoretical discussions of the relationships between economic power and cultural power
·         Official efforts to promote Chinese language and culture abroad
·         China’s international news media
·         The international strategies of China’s media companies
·         What are the competitive advantages of Chinese culture in the international market?
·         Is “authentic” Chinese culture under threat from the drive to sell products internationally?
·         International reaction to the spread of Chinese culture
·         The historical experience of the international influence of Chinese culture
·         Future prospects for Chinese media and culture on the world stage 
 
If you wish to present a paper at this conference, please send an abstract of not more than 250 words to Mi Miao (m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk) by 31st January 2010.
 
The organisers will make every effort to find a publication outlet for the best of the papers presented at this conference.

Last few places available for FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC REPORTING IN THE UK 1 week briefing for Chinese MA students.

Financial and Economic Reporting in the UK general DEC 09

For more information please contact China Media Centre office:

T 0044 (0)20 83577354

E  cmc-office@wmin.ac.uk

China Central Television was the venue for a 2-day Workshop on British journalism organized by China Media Centre in October 2009. Speakers were Hugo de Burgh, CMC Director, Kevin Sutcliffe, C4’s Head of Current Affairs, Steve Hewlett, presenter of BBC’s The Media Show, Zhang Jie, Editor of CCTV’s News Investigation and Yang Rui, Presenter of CCTV’s Dialogue.

‘China and the New Green Deal’, a China Media Centre conference, was held in Parliament in June 2009. It was the 6^th conference on China held by CMC in Parliament.

A one-day CMC seminar was held in the Houses of Parliament to address the implications of China’s management of its environmental challenges for government policy and British business. It was hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on China and sponsored by Norton Rose. 170 people attended, from business, the policy world and media.

One of CMC’s research themes, along with regulation, journalism and innovation in the media, is the relationship between media and environment. This seminar is one of several initiatives connected with this theme, including a workshop at Caijing magazine in  Peking, producing a report on journalism and the environment for International Media Support and being knowledge partner for the October Wilton Park Conference on China’s environment.

• Programme: 090625OnDayProgramme2x
• 306009 Speakers biographies

This is a conference of the China Media Centre for the APPCG, with Knowledge Partner, Norton Rose LLP. With assistance from the Chinese Embassy and Chinadialogue http://www.chinadialogue.net/

China Media Centre managed Boris Johnson’s first ever visit to China, to study higher education, just before he became Mayor of London

Boris Johnson

The Mayor of London and former MP for Henley

伦敦市长Boris Johnson中国之行

In 2006 the CMC arranged Boris Johnson MP’s first trip to China, when he was Conservative Higher Education Spokesman. He and the Director of CMC travelled together to Shanghai and Peking where they were filmed by BBC Newsnight.

Photo: Boris Johnson in China

2006年，时任影子内阁高等教育部发言人、现任伦敦市长Boris Johnson 在中国传媒中心的安排下，与中心主任戴雨果教授一起，展开了他的首次中国之行；他们在上海和北京的行程由BBC的新闻之夜栏目（News Night）摄制成专题节目在黄金时间播出。

Steam-rollering into the future (Review of Hugo de Burgh’s China: Friend or Foe?)

Boris Johnson

Spectator, Wednesday, 28th June 2006

You’d better hurry if you want to see any of old Beijing. The lovely higgledy-piggledy brick hutongs are being blitzed in readiness for the 2008 Olympics. Even in the Hou Hai district, supposedly one of the last zones of ancient tranquillity, the imperial lakes are fringed with trashy bars and ugly black sound systems spilling on to the pavement.

Not far away tourists are taken to inspect the old codgers playing chess and mah-jong, surrounded by caged birds. The oldsters like to look at the birdies, the tourist will be told in a whisper. It was one of the simple pleasures that Mao destroyed. The dictator took it into his head that it was an act of bourgeois decadence even to admire birdsong or plumage. So children went around banging tin trays and the birds were driven from the trees.

Photo: Boris Johnson joining in exercise at the Peking University.

As you look at these elderly victims of Maoist insanity, you can’t help wondering whether all the pundits are right about China. This is a place that still refuses to acknowledge the evil of Mao, and where his visage still hangs, fringed with tassels, from the rear-view mirror of buses. Are those mole-covered jowls really the face of the new China? Is it possible that this one-party state will achieve the kind of global dominance that some have recently forecast? In this clear, concise and fact-stuffed summary, Hugo de Burgh gives you all you need to make a pretty shrewd guess.

For those who think we’d all better take crash courses in Mandarin, the statistics are terrifying. China now consumes more red meat than any other country, and in the next five years will become a bigger trading nation than the US. Last year there were 50,000 miles of three-lane highway under construction, and new metro systems were being constructed in 26 cities, as well as 30 nuclear power stations. Shanghai has the world’s tallest hotel, the biggest shop, the highest television tower and the fastest train.

The Chinese middle class is exploding — I expect a thousand or so have been added to the ranks of the bourgeoisie since you began this article — and will number about 200 million this year. These are of course buying ever more cars, clothes and electrical appliances, and Goldman Sachs estimates that within ten years the Chinese will be buying 29 per cent of the world’s luxury goods. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their educational system, and they continue to excel in the crunchy subjects that British students find so off-putting. Almost 60 per cent of Chinese undergraduates study the sciences or engineering, compared to 36 per cent in the UK. How can they lose?

Well, as de Burgh points out, China is still a developing country, with per capita GDP of about $1,000 per year. We all have it in our heads that China is the world’s economic powerhouse; and yet the country is still afflicted by such poverty as to qualify for the world’s biggest slice of World Bank assistance. Never forget that the Chinese must feed a quarter of mankind with only 10 per cent of the world’s cultivable land, and with only 25 per cent of the global average per capita water supply.

That is why so much of China has been deforested or turned into a desert or a dump for nuclear waste, and the forced march to capitalism is producing anguish that can be every bit as painful as the Cultural Revolution. Villagers are killed if they protest against the expropriation of their land for development. In 2004 there were 74,000 protests of one kind or another, and yet there is no democratic outlet for these feelings.

Every university department has a party leader, every newspaper editor is under party control, and judicial decisions are subject to political review. Corruption is everywhere, tax is raised in a pretty arbitrary fashion, and a rickety social security system must cope with what promises to be the mother and father of all pensions crises — because each mother and father is only allowed one child, with the result that 27 per cent of the population will be over 60 by 2050.

Feed all these factors into your equation, and you begin to see why there is a case for a moderate sinoscepticism, a belief that all this hysteria about China may be slightly overdone. As Hugo de Burgh rightly concludes, there is no reason to fear China. She is no foe. He provides ample evidence that her march to global dominance will take much longer than some are currently predicting, and that in the meantime her integration to the capitalist system has been, on the whole, good for China and good for us. It’s Win Win, as some snazzy new Beijing nightclub has no doubt been auspiciously named.