Marketing Dictatorship - (Asia/Pacific/Perspectives) by Anne-Marie Brady (Paperback)

About the Book

After a period of self-imposed exclusion, Chinese society is in the process of a massive transformation in the name of economic progress and integration into the world economy, yet the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is seeking to maintain its rule over China indefinitely. Exami...

Book Synopsis

After a period of self-imposed exclusion, Chinese society is in the process of a massive transformation in the name of economic progress and integration into the world economy, yet the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is seeking to maintain its rule over China indefinitely. Examining Chinese propaganda and thought work in the current period offers readers a unique understanding of how the CCP will address real and perceived threats to stability and its continued hold on power.

Review Quotes

A hugely interesting and important book. In a concise 230 pages it explains how since 1989 the Chinese Communist Party has renewed, extended and strengthened its propaganda apparatus.

Anne-Marie Brady . . . has produced an authoritative book on [China's] Central Propaganda Department.

Anne-Marie Brady is an authority on Beijing's efforts to attract favorable attention to itself. . . . The central thesis of her path-breaking book is ultimately convincing.

In a year of unprecedented media coverage of China, Anne-Marie Brady has written a timely book about the Chinese media. She has done much to demystify an understudied topic. . . . The book's most important contribution is to shed light on the institutions, laws and practices which trammel Chinese media. . . . Brady's work deserves much admiration. . . . Marketing Dictatorship is a useful source of information for students of Chinese politics, and an invaluable resource for scholars of the Chinese media.

Propaganda is one of the most important domains in the Chinese party-state. . . . As Anne-Marie Brady demonstrates in a superb study of this central and hidden part of the Chinese system, the surface diversity of the Chinese media hides the guiding hand of a high-level Party office in Beijing called the Central Propaganda Department, which works its will across the whole spectrum of activities in media, education, entertainment--and also in sports. . . . The Beijing Olympics have never been anything but a conscious part of this strategy--what Brady calls a campaign of mass distraction.

The best and most current study on [the Chinese propaganda system], and is a welcome addition to our understanding of the evolving party-state in China. . . . A much-needed assessment of the often 'invisible hand' guiding what Chinese citizens are permitted to know and how they know it.

This fascinating book reveals how China's propaganda machine has reinvented itself and today employs a range of sophisticated PR techniques to mold Chinese public opinion. Read this to understand how the Communist Party has strengthened its hold in China.

This is a fine study of Chinese domestic and foreign propaganda. . . . The book is well organized. . . . Her research is extensive and up-to-date. The volume should be part of any collection with a focus on mass communications, China studies, or even political science in general. . . . Recommended.

About the Author

Anne-Marie Brady is associate professor in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Canterbury. She is the presenter for the BBC documentary "The Message from China."