| This thesis aims to explore the issues of cultural hybridization in China under the influence of cultural globalization. Within the context of globalization, the intercultural hybridization between Chinese and American popular culture transformed cultural production and consumption in contemporary China. The transformation of cultural construction affected Chinese people's perception of their cultural identity and changed cultural practices in their daily life. The first part of my thesis is about the theoretical background of globalization studies. I will introduce the concept of globalization and the history of globalization. My second part focuses on the development of cultural globalization and the current studies of cultural hybridization. I present a literary review of cultural hybridization studies, and I also point out my understanding of cultural hybridization in China. In the third part, I examine how neoliberalism acts as an economic incentive to facilitate cultural hybridization in China and the U.S. Then, I apply case study into the analysis of cultural hybridization. I use two cases--Super Girl, the Chinese version of American Idol and Starbucks--to illustrate the complexity of cultural hybridization in contemporary Chinese society. In the fifth part, my concern is that cultural hybrids only benefited the Chinese middle-class and the uneven intercultural hybridization emerged in Chinese society. Finally, with the rise of China's economic power, the globalization of Chinese culture became the reversed flow of cultural hybridization. Cultural hybridization is an ongoing process in which the effect of economy and politics on culture increases the complexity of cultural hybridization studies. Therefore, I hope to rethink the influence of globalization in Chinese and American cultural production and cultural consumption. |
