Photojournalism in China 

Speaker:  AN Guanxi,   XIANG Mei

Date: Thursday, 29^th March 2012

Time: 11am-1pm

Venue: A 7.3

Chair: Guo Dawei

OPEN TO ALL

Mr. AN Guanxi is now a Visiting Scholar at the China Media Centre, University of Westminster. He also joined University Missouri in the US in 2010 as a visiting scholar. Mr. An was the director of Photo Department in Oriental Morning Post based in Shanghai for more than 5 years. He obtained his Master degree from the first Master Course organized for Chinese photojournalists to learn digital media in 2008.

In this seminar, Mr. An will introduce photojournalism in China; the requirements of photojournalists, agenda setting and the trend of photojournalism.

Mrs. XIANG Mei has rich experience working for the Olympic games as media operator. Before join Xinhua News Agency as photojournalist and editor in 2009, she worked for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of 29^th Olympiad as a project manager in Photo Services of Media Operations. In 2011, Mrs. XIANG moved to London. She is now studying Media Management at University of Westminster, while working for Xinhua News agency’s London bureau as well as working for 2012 London Olympic as media operator.

She will talk through her experiences as a photojournalist, editor and media operator during big events.

More about China Media Centre and seminars see http://chinamediacentre.org/

If you have any inquiry about CMC events, please contact Miao Mi at m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk

CHINESE CHRISTIANITY AND THE PARTY

Speaker: Dr GerdaWielander
Date: Monday 5th March
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: A 6.8 Maria Hewlett Building (A Block) Harrow Campus
Chair: Prof Hugo de Burgh
OPEN TO ALL

This talk asks the question what influence Christian values have had on social and political values in post-socialist China. Christianity, understood as an ideological source of social and political values, informs both official ideology and ‘dissident’ ideology, albeit in different ways and to a different extent, and is an increasingly accepted source of social moral and ethics in contemporary China. I argue that while we tend to think of China as an atheist, secular state, it is in fact vital to understand the importance religion plays in the state’s response to emerging new values in society without giving ground in terms of a more democratic system.

Biography:

Gerda Wielander’s research interest lies in contemporary China’s social and political development. Most recently she has been interested in the way Christian belief is influencing and shaping political discourse in contemporary China. She has published several articles in this field and has been awarded an AHRC Fellowship in 2012 to complete her book on Christian values in Communist China (to be published with Routledge in 2013).

GerdaWielander was educated in Vienna and Beijing. She obtained an M.A. in Chinese Studies in 1990 with a dissertation on Liang Qichao’s historiography, including a first translation into German of Liang’s “XinShixue” (New Historiography). Her PhD (1995) investigated the Malaysian Chinese evaluation of China’s Democracy Movement (1976-1989) as expressed in the region’s vibrant Chinese press.

Gerda is Principal Lecturer in Chinese Studies and Director of the Undergraduate Languages Programme in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages. She has taught at a number of British universities including SOAS and Cambridge before coming to Westminster in a full-time capacity.

More about China Media Centre and seminars see http://chinamediacentre.org.

If you have any queries about CMC events, please contact Miao Mi at m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk

Prof Michel Hockx from SOAS, University of London, Dr. Mei Hong, Assistant Professor from Southwest Jiaotong University and Prof David Gauntlett from University of Westminster, will give a talk with the title ‘China: the New Media Explosion’, You can find more details about the speakers and an abstract of the talk below.

SOAS& CMC 2012 Spring Seminar

CHINA: THE NEW MEDIA EXPLOSION

Speaker: Prof Michel Hockx, Dr. Mei Hong

Interrogator: Prof David Gauntlett

Date: Wednesday 22nd February, 2012

Time: 4-6pm

Venue: C1.04 New Cavendish Campus, University of Westminster,

Chair: Prof Hugo de Burgh

OPEN TO ALL

ABSTRACT:
This lecture introduces the history, development, and widespread popularity of Internet Literature (wangluo wenxue 网络文学) in the People’s Republic of China. The speakers will deal in turn deal with two discrete aspects of the phenomenon, namely the rise of online popular fiction and its impact on other media, and the significance of online practices for the more marginal genre of poetry.

BIOGRAPHY:
Michel Hockx is Professor of Chinese at SOAS, University of London. Born and raised in The Netherlands, he obtained his PhD in 1994 from Leiden University for a thesis on modern Chinese poetry. His later work has dealt with various aspects of the sociology of modern Chinese literature, including the study of early modern literary societies and literary magazines and, more recently, the study of Internet literature. His monograph Internet Literature in China is forthcoming with Columbia University Press.

David Gauntlett is Professor of Media and Communications, and Co-Director of the Communications and Media Research Institute, at the University of Westminster. His teaching and research concerns people’s use of media in their everyday lives, with a particular focus on creative uses of digital media. He is the author of several books, including Creative Explorations (2007) and Making is Connecting: The social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0 (2011). He has made several popular YouTube videos, and produces the website about media and identities, Theory.org.uk. He has conducted collaborative research with a number of the world’s leading creative organisations, including the BBC, Lego, and Tate.

Mei Hong is a vice professor of Communication Department of Art and Communication College, Southwest Jiaotong University, China. She obtained her PHD in 2006 from Sichuan University for a thesis on Culture and Communication. She is interested in media and society and has published a book on Internet Literature.

More about China Media Centre and seminars wee: http://chinamediacentre.org/

If you have any queries about CMC events, please contact Miao MI at m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk

Jeremy Paxman (principal news and current affairs presenter, BBC), Wang Hui (Head of Communications, City of Beijing) in the chair, Bai Yansong (principal news and current affairs presenter, CCTV)

Jeremy Paxman and China’s leading current affairs presenter and writer Bai Yansong joined Paul Jackson and David Morgenstern, from the UK television industry, at the the Future of Public Media workshop organised by the China Media Centre of the University of Westminster and the Communications University of China. The event took place in Beijing, China, on 12 January 2012.

The full-day workshop explored common experiences and challenges facing public media organisations in China and the UK. Contributors came from academic, journalistic, policy and business backgrounds and investigated where common interests and potential partnerships can exist despite real differences in media systems, giving participants the chance to identify areas of common interest and build the foundations for future partnerships.

The four visiting British speakers at the conference, with the Conference Director, Professor Hu Zhengrong. (From left to right: David Morgenstern, Paul Jackson, Professor Hu, Jeremy Paxman and Professor Hugo de Burgh)

Key speakers attending the workshop included:

From the United Kingdom

• Jeremy Paxman, the UK’s leading current affairs presenter.
• Paul Jackson, an outstanding UK TV producer, former executive producer of BBC and ITV’s entertainment departments.
• David Morgenstern, former director of BBC’s entertainment programme development department, currently Director of 10 Star company’s Programme R & D Department.
• Prof Hugo de Burgh, Director of China Media Centre, University of Westminster.

From China:

• Prof Hu Zhengrong, Deputy President of Communications University of China, Chairman of Chinese Media Research Association and the Honorary Doctor of the University of Westminster
• Bai Yansong, China’s leading current affairs presenter and writer.
• Yang Hua, Deputy Director of the CCTV News Centre
• Zhang Haichao, Deputy General Manager of China International Television Corporation (CITVC)
• Ren Xue’an, Deputy Director of CCTV Channel 1

The city is a physical entity, a place of human inhabitation and a center of economy, politics and culture. The city represents a network of interaction and communication, and the indicator of human living conditions and the pattern of their relationships as well.

From the beginning, communication and the city associated with each other, constituting an integral co-structural relationship. The city changes in time and space, which in turn restructures the communicative and interactive relationships. The significant change of interaction and communication pattern, is undoubtedly adjustment and representation of the city and its internal and external relations. In short, the city is the carrier and network of interaction and communication which  is the pattern of the city and its resident’s living. Therefore, the research of the city and its resident cannot go without the perspectives of interaction and communication.

In the current context of globalization, digitalization and informatization, re-assessing the relationship between the city and interaction and communication, is not only a practical and significant subject concerning human existence but the cornerstone of communication theory and practice as well.

The Center for Information and Communication Studies, Fudan University, will focus on “urban communication” in its future research, re-examining the relationship between communication, the city and human beings, in order to fulfill three purposes: On the level of social function, to help build up “communicable city”; on the level of humanity idea, to contemplate human living conditions and problems in modern cities from the perspective of communication; on the level of disciplinary level, to build a new theoretical ground of communication research, connecting humanities and social science based on of communication.

The theme of “Communication and China • Fudan Forum” (2011) is determined as

Interaction and Communication: The City in Transition

“Communication and China • Fudan Forum” (2011) calls for papers from domestic and foreign scholars. In view of the wide scope of the topic, we suggest three dimensions so as to make our discussion more focused and to the point.

1. Interaction and communication as the main function of the city. For example: the relationship between interaction and communication and different urban groups; urban communication and political and economic changes in cities; public crisis communication and urban governance; community communication and neighborhood; information monitoring, public security and civil rights; urban change and building up urban media systems; interaction and communication and urban cultural identity.
2. The city as the network of interaction and communication, for example, urban space presented by interaction and communication; virtual and physical urban space and interaction and communication; transition in ways of communication and relationships and urban change; the expression of ideas in urban architecture; urban lifestyle and cultural heritage in interaction and communication; the relationship between suburban and urban distribution and interaction; political relations in urban interaction and communication; urban markets, commodity exchange and interpersonal interaction.
3. Interaction and communication as the way of city residents’ existence, for example: the transition of interaction and communication and human existential experience; interaction and communication and people’s perception of the city; urban interaction and communication and people’s daily life, urban interaction and communication and manifestation of Renqing, urban interaction and communication and individual subjectivity.

The title of the paper can be decided by the author. One can choose whatever research orientation, methodology and approach one finds appropriate. All submissions must be based on empirical evidence and not purely descriptive narrative. Empty talk should be avoided.

Date: December 28-30, 2011 in Shanghai, China

Deadline: October 31, 2011

Email: cics@fudan.edu.cn

Phone: 86-21-65643743

Fax; 86-21-65643743

Date: 6 April 2011 6.00pm – 6 April 2011 7.00pm
Location: The Old Cinema, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW
Speakers: Professor Hugo de Burgh

Hugo de Burgh is Professor of the Study of Journalism at the University of Westminster and Director of the China Media Centre. The Chinese Ministry of Education has appointed him a Professor at Tsinghua University under the PRC Government’s 985 Programme.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in Fyvie Hall.

RSVP to: Register online on <http://www.westminster.ac.uk/about/news-and-events/events/2011/to-the-yellow-crane-pavilion-with-our-leaky-umbrella-reflections-on-the-future-for-chinese-media-the-inaugural-lecture-of-professor-hugo-de-burgh>

Beyond the university, attendees heard from top advertising and PR experts, as well as from the people who handle communications in London (including Westminster, the area which includes most of central London’s attractions), Glasgow and Belfast. Field visits were made to destinations across the UK, with opportunities to see the reality behind the UK’s most notable “city brands”.  The course concluded with discussion of the delegates’ experiences during their time in the UK, and they had an opportunity to put their questions to a panel of experts from the worlds of media and branding.

Seminars were led by Edelman’s new Chief Content Officer and former BBC Director of Global News Richard Sambrook,  Crisis Communications expert Mike Regester and Director of Communications at the Department for Business, Innovation and skills Russell Grossman. Barclay’s Corporate Affairs Director Howell James and the BBC’s Senior Communications Advisor Donald  Steel hosted sessions, as did senior officials at the Central Office of Information and senior partner at Portland Communications, Martin Sheehan. The Office of the First Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government organised a briefing for delegates in Cardiff on the management of  communications and media relations in a devolved administration, and delegates also met the All Party Parliamentary China Group in Parliament.

Professor Colin Sparks, director of CAMRI, the university’s centre for global media and social change, introduced the UK media system, while Professor Hugo de Burgh, founder and director of the China Media Centre, lectured on the representation of China in the UK media.

Delegates were all ministerial spokespersons – officials who represent their Secretaries of State and Ministers in public and are themselves senior career politicians.

The two-week course was designed and led by former BBC Director of Communications Sally Osman in partnership with Dr. Zeng Rong of the China Media Centre. Project organisation was by Alja Kranjec.

China Media Centre has designed a suite of courses which are especially, though not exclusively, designed for Chinese applicants.

This year we have held two separate sessions of our course ‘INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY IN THE UK MEDIA’ and two of ‘CITY BRANDING AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS’. They are aimed at mid-career professionals in, respectively, the broadcast industry and the public spokesperson track within regional and city government administrations.

 Certificate ceremony March 2010; CMC INNOVATION2 coursE

 Each course includes a few days out with London; in Scotland, a programme introducing the visitors to Scottish public affairs has been hosted several times by John Brown, the PR expert who is brother to the recent Prime Minister. One of the courses for government officials visited Northern Ireland and the next one will be briefed in Cardiff on Welsh devolution.

Certificate ceremony March 2010; CMC CITY1 course; Ms WANG Hui, Director of Information Office of Beijing Municipality, receiving the certificate from Geoffrey Davies, Head of the Department for Journalism and Mass Communications, and Prof Hugo de Burgh, Director of China Media Centre.

 We are also recruiting to 3 summer schools for Chinese media undergraduates in July and August; applications received so far come from students at universities as diverse as Shandong University (where the Director is an Honorary Professor), Renmin University, Communications University, Guangzhou University of Foreign Studies and Shenzhen University.

Also planned for this year is a course ‘THE ORGANISATION AND SKILLS OF UK PUBLIC COMMUNICATION ‘, aimed at national level media specialists, and indications so far are that it will be attended by high ranking civil servants and the heads of public affairs of some of China’s largest state-owned corporations.

ACADEMIC CONFERENCE

In April 2010, CMC also held its annual academic conference at Regent Campus, this year titled CHINA’S SOFT POWER. Delegates attending from all continents engaged keenly with the topics under discussion.

 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.

TEACHING THE MEDIA-a course at Chongqing’s XINAN UNIVERSITY OF POLICY & LAW

Geoffrey Davies, Head of Department of JMC, will lead a delegation of 4 lecturers to address media teachers from all over SW China in workshops to be held in early July. Prof Jeanette Steemers is a world expert on children’s’ television, David Dunkley Gyimah a specialist on New Media and Anthony McNicholas, who runs the BBC-History discussion list and is a specialist on Media and Communications.

LECTURE

The Director gave the opening address at a conference at Wolfson College Oxford on 10-11 June, AFRICA, CHINA AND THE WEST MEET: TOWARDS NEW FRAMEWORKS FOR MEDIA DEVELOPMENT. Among the very scholars from many countries giving papers were UW colleagues Dr Xin Xin and Dr Winston Mano.

Prof Hugo de Burgh will give a keynote speech at the 11th All-China Communications Conference, to be held at Peking University 9-12 July.

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.