The Voice of a New China: Democratic Behaviours in the Chinese Reality Shows Super Girl and Happy Girls

Abstract

One of China’s reality shows,Super Girl, showed too much of a ‘democratic’ idea for the taste of the Chinese Communist Party, which suspended it in 2006. Nevertheless,Super Girlsucceeded in introducing a participatory audience and welcoming a new form of ‘affective economy’ that helped Chinese audiences actively engage in a given show. Today’s new media technologies and their convergence empower the participatory audience and spur democratic ideas in Chinese society. Because of these empowered audiences, China’s reality shows have become an influential platform. I examine four aspects of these Chinese reality shows in an era of ‘media convergence’: first, the new relationship between the Chinese government and media producers; second, the intense cooperation between Chinese new media producers and consumers; third, the public voice created by Chinese audiences in and outside the studio; and fourth, the limitations and possibilities of democratic participation in Chinese reality shows.