Sounds of a migrant city: radio representation and cultural citizenship in the case of Shenzhen, China

ABSTRACT

The cultural dimension has been considered as an important site in exploring Chinese citizenship. This article examines cultural citizenship-making practices with a focus on rural-urban migrants and local radio. Since the opening-up reforms of 1979, Shenzhen, located in southeast China, has attracted many migrant workers and has grown into a prosperous migrant city. As such, Shenzhen provides a compelling case study in examining the relationship between media, radio in particular, and cultural citizenship-making in the Chinese context. Using content analysis and case studies, this article explores the ways in which Shenzhen was represented on radio during the 1990s and 2000s – key decades in the city’s development – through a study of two specific radio genres: news radio and late-night talk-back radio. By exploring listener involvement in late-night talk-back radio, the article analyses the practices that were employed by migrants to satisfy their desire for inclusion and recognition. This article suggests that migrant listeners’ affinity for radio was a vital component of the cultural citizenship-negotiating trajectory in the history of the urbanisation of Shenzhen. The discussion of radio, representation and inclusion has implications for contemporary debates surrounding citizenship in the digital age.

KEYWORDS:

• Radio
• Shenzhen
• rural-urban migrant workers
• representation
• cultural citizenship

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Primary Research Platform and Project in Higher Education of Guangdong Province, China. It is a project under the Junior Researcher in Innovation program [Project Number 2018 WQNCX 156].

Notes

1. Shenzhen is widely known as ‘Roc City’. The actual Roc City (Pengcheng) was a small ancient town. Its remnants are about 80 km (50 miles) from Shenzhen. It is not known who first coined this name to describe Shenzhen, nor why. However, the metaphor embodied in the character roc (peng) means a gigantic bird, which fits well with the image of Shenzhen – a global city that is developing at a rapid pace. https://www.sohu.com/a/107737418_445672 Accessed 26 February 2020.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Primary Research Platform and Project in Higher Education of Guangdong province [2018 WQNCX 156].

Notes on contributors

Wei Lei

Dr Wei LEI is a lecturer of Media and Communication Studies at Ningbotech University, China. She is the author of 'Radio and Social Transformation in China' (Routledge, 2019).