Staging Corruption: Chinese Television and Politics

In late 1995, the drama *Heaven Above (Cangtian zaishang)* debuted on Chinese TV. Featuring a villainous high-ranking government official, it was the first in a series of wildly popular corruption dramas that riveted the nation. *Staging Corruption* looks at the rise, fall, and reincarnation of corruption dramas and the ways in which they express the collective dreams and nightmares of China in the market-reform era. It also considers how these dramas - as products of the interplay between television stations, production companies, media regulation, and political censorship - unveil complicated relationships between power, media, and society. This book is essential reading for those following China's ongoing struggles with the highly volatile socio-political issue of corruption.