The Will to Power: the BAT in and beyond China

Abstract

This chapter examines the imperative for China to compete for international cultural acclaim. The term ‘strong cultural power’ (wenhua qiangguo), is a slogan institutionalised by the Xi Jinping regime to reclaim China’s lost cultural ascendency and normalise operations. What is cultural power and how does Chinese media become powerful? While state media institutions are restrained from creative risk-taking another force is arising, which describe as BAT, an acronym for Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, China’s leading internet companies, which are rapidly establishing global connections and taking Chinese media into new territories, either through co-productions or by buying foreign assets.