Shanzhai Media Culture: Failed Intervention to the Disingenuous Neoliberal Logic of Chinese Media

This article studies shanzhai media culture, a specific type of shanzhai culture that copycats the most-watched shows of China Central Television (CCTV) with a sense of satire and play. The article discusses why CCTV has become a popular target of shanzhai, how CCTV's brand shows are shanzhai-ed and what are the political implications of shanzhaing these established programs. By presenting Lao Meng's Shanzhai Spring Festival Gala as a case study, the author argues that shanzhai media culture is a creative, participatory and Internet-facilitated grassroots media production, which attempted to resist and intervene in the power-money hegemony of CCTV underpinned by the disingenuous neoliberal logic of Chinese media. However, this culture failed to do so and has been co-opted and reshaped by the powerful logic it attempted to challenge.