The Portrayal of Neoliberal Subjects in Chinese People in Africa

Abstract

This article examines the television documentary Chinese People in Africa (2016), as part of the official Chinese efforts to enhance China’s image in media and communication, for both the domestic and the international audiences. The determined, hard-working, self-relying individuals engaged in wild life conservation, peace-keeping, non-governmental organization service etc., offer typical neoliberal subject figures that reform-era China up till the 2010s tries to make of Chinese citizens. To the extent that the show’s value orientation fails to register the leftward ideological turn ensued by an actual leadership power transfer well before the show’s production, the documentary is also a good example of ideological tenacity in the field of cultural production.