Women's magazine in China : an analysis of Asian and western influences

Abstract

China is one of the fastest growing magazine markets in Asia largely due to the emergence of new middle-class women, who are the potential consumers of the content and products promoted by these magazines. Women's magazines have been influenced by the broader cultural, political and socio-economic conditions of the countries where they are published and circulated. In China, the number of international women's magazine titles has risen exponentially in the last 20 years and the speed of this expansion has been accelerated by China's Open Door policies. This extensive study investigates the impact of globalization in the development of the magazines in China. The content and advertising in these magazines reflect the changing socio-economic landscape and the transformation in the portrayal of women in the media. Based on a theoretical framework of the "hybridity" theory, the study investigates the dialectic interaction between the global and local forces in the production process of international women's magazines in China and links the production processes to the analysis of the magazine content and the construction of 'New Woman'.