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Effects of Advertising Images on Social Comparison:Do Societies Matter? |
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Author(s): Shuhua Zhou, Peiqin Zhou, and Fei Xue |
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This paper reports the effects of un/affordable product images on social comparison variables. Participants from the US and China took part in a three-group experiment, in which advertising featuring affordable products and unaffordable products, as well as control images, were manipulated. Participants' self-esteem and life-satisfaction were measured using a battery of scales. Results indicated that exposure to unaffordable products produced mixed results. While it did not affect US participants, it enhanced, rather than decreased, Chinese students’ self-esteem, though not life-satisfaction, a finding that is contrary to previous research. This finding suggests that the US participants might be more realistic in their future estimate whereas Chinese students were rather optimistic about their future. |
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Advertising Discourses and Mobile Telephone Adoption in Taiwan |
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Author(s): Kenneth C. C. Yang and Fen-Weng Lee |
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The diffusion of mobile telephones in Taiwan has demonstrated astonishing growth since its telecommunications market was open for competition in early 1990s, following government deregulations in Taiwan’s telecommunications sectors. Although scholars have attributed the success of mobile telephone diffusion to aggressive marketing activities, few have explored advertising discourses promoting mobile telephones in Taiwan. To fill the gap in the literature, this study adopted a historical approach to examine advertising discourses as seen in two major newspapers in Taiwan. In particular, we examined advertising discourses of major mobile telephone companies in earlier 1998. To extract characteristics of these discourses, a quantitative content analysis method was used to collect data. Our statistical analyses confirmed that rational appeals about mobile telephone adoption were emphasized in these discourses. Because mobile telephones have diffused exponentially in the Greater China Region since early 1990s, future studies exploring advertising discourses in other parts of this region will help understand commonalities and diversities of mobile technology discourses. These studies will help uncover the complicated relationships among discourse formation, socio-economical context, and cultural-linguistic environment unique to many diasporic ethnic Chinese communities in the Greater China Region. |
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Comprehensive Dimensions of Government Intervention in Crisis Management: A Qualitative Content Analysis of News Coverage of the 2003 SARS Epidemic in China |
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Author(s): Juan Meng & Bruce K. Berger |
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By qualitatively content analyzing the news coverage of SARS in Beijing Review, Time, and Newsweek, this study examined the Chinese government’s interventions in crisis management during the 2003 SARS epidemic. Empirical findings show that the interaction of increasing external pressure and internal self-awareness forced the Chinese government to change its crisis management strategies. Different administrative levels (local, regional, national, and international) were cooperatively involved in taking actions and controlling the crisis. Implications for future research were also discussed. |
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U.S. News Coverage of New Leaders in China: An Investigation of Agenda-Setting Abilities of U.S. Newspapers and Government |
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Author(s): Po-Lin Pan |
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This article problematizes Western biases and practices in the current system and structure of mass communication as they relate to the Islamic world. It calls for the need of a professional association of Muslim journalists that aims to set ethical criteria for news reporting, protect the rights of individual local journalists, and promote education and training of young people who represent a major source of human resources for Islamic culture and civilization. The article then discusses five cardinal concepts of the Islamic worldview that could serve as the fundamental principles of communication ethics for such a network of Muslim journalists: (1) tawhid, (2) amr bi al-ma'ruf wa nahy’an al munkar, (3) ummah, (4) taqwa, and (5) amanat. By and large, Muslim societies have not responded positively to communication ethics coming from outside their own culture. Nor in the post-colonial Muslim world has the communication system acquired from the West gained a broad popular base. Throughout the Islamic history, information has been not a commodity but a moral imperative. From an Islamic perspective, therefore, this article concludes that linguistic and political vocabularies and concepts, now at the center of global politics, both celebrate the arrival of a new communication age and hold the key to ultimate information control. |
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Comparing Expected Leadership Styles in Taiwan and the United States: A Study of University Employees |
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Author(s): Ming-Yi Wu |
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The current study investigated how U.S. newspapers reported on new leaders in China based upon the change of the U.S.-China relations. It attempted to explore the media’s agenda-setting function affected by the U.S. foreign policy in directing the contents of U.S. international news by analyzing the characteristics of new Chinese leaders reported by U.S. newspapers. The results indicated that the coverage of Chinese leaders reported by the U.S. newspapers were influenced by the U.S.-China relation based upon agenda-setting theory, and second-level agenda setting also took place in the interactions between mass media and foreign policy. |
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English Hegemony and English Divide |
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Author(s): Yukio Tsuda |
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This paper first categorizes the linguistic studies of the global spread of English into three different positions according to the perspectives taken with regard to the dominance of English. They are :'Pro-hegemonic', 'Functional/Ideological' and 'Critical/Transformative'. The paper then explicates some of the problems caused by English Hegemony and English Divide such as 'Linguicide', or the killing of smaller languages and 'Linguicism', or the discrimination based on languages and ‘Americanization of culture’, or the global dominance of American media and materialistic culture which disrupts local cultures across the world. Finally, the study provides a brief account of different approaches to building a more equal international communication free from English Hegemony and English Divide. They are 'Monolingual Approach', 'Multilingual Approach' and 'Global Scheme Approach'. |
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An Analysis of Tzu Chi's Public Communication Campaign on Body Donation |
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Author(s): Guo-Ming Chen, Dienfang Chou, Baukiana Pan, & Chien Chang |
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Since the 1996 establishment of the Tzu Chi Body Donation Center, located at the Medical School of Tzu Chi University, campaigning for body donation has become one of Tzu Chi’s on-going endeavors. By 2004, the Center has successfully secured more than 430 bodies and more than 14,000 pledges that outnumber all other medical schools in Taiwan. Why is it that the campaign messages could draw such an overwhelming response from the public, especially since the use of one’s body after death is taboo in traditional Chinese belief? It is the purpose of this paper to examine the communication efforts of Tzu Chi’s body donation campaign. In order to achieve this goal, McGuire’s (2001) public communication model is used as the basis of the analysis in this study, which includes five components: (1) source, (2) message, (3) channel, (4) audience, and (5) destination. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed as well. |
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An Examination of Factors Influencing the International Students' Choice of Studying in China |
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Author(s): Ran An, Shihai Zhang, & Zhifeng Hao |
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A sample survey on the integrated factors that influence international mobility to China for Chinese language learning was conducted among 608 international students from 64 countries and 266 teaching/administrative staff members from 62 Chinese universities. Individual interviews were also conducted based on a specific focus to supplement the survey. Six factors, including local environment, university reputation, promotion, facilities, course and teaching, and warfare services were investigated, and the difference in priority of these main factors was raised between international students and Chinese teaching/administrative staff. Finally, a model of intercultural communicative competence training for Chinese staff was suggested. |
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An Examination of College Students' Identities in Quemoy (Kinmen) |
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Author(s): Jian-Feng Wei |
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The purpose of this study is to examine, via a replication study, the cultural identities, ethnic identities and national identities of college students in Quemoy (Kinmen Island). In the spring of 2006, about half of the students at the Kinmen Institute of Technology (KMIT) were from Taiwan and the other half were native to Quemoy. Politically, Quemoy belongs to the Republic of China (Taiwan), but, geographically, Quemoy is very near to Chinese mainland. Different historical memories might result in different identities. The identities held by these two groups of students, who possessed different historical memories and different living environments, stimulated the author’s concern and interest. Over 600 students were asked to answer the questionnaire designed by the author. Results indicated that the ethnic and cultural identities of these two groups of students were different, and that their national identities were diverse. Limitations anticipated in future research are presented as well. |
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A Report of American Students’ Views on the Chinese Concept of Harmony (Hexie) |
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Author(s): Noreen M. Schaefer-Faix |
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One of the goals of the McMaster School at Defiance College is to prepare students to be engaged citizens in a world that is becoming more interdependent and connected. Defiance College students study the concept of harmony, from the Chinese cultural perspective, in order to increase their understanding of the importance of the movement towards globalization. Although there is considerable ambiguity in the students’ predispositions at the start of the course, the readings and discussions on the concepts related to harmony give the students a more in-depth understanding of the nature of harmony. This paper reports the results of class learning on the subject of Chinese harmony. The observation in the interactional process with the students provides rich information about American students’ views on the concept of harmony embedded in the Chinese culture. |
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The Journey of an Intercultural/International Communication Scholar: An Interview with Dr. Michael Prosser |
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Author(s): Laura N. Gostin |
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This interview was conducted via email over a period of several weeks during the summer of 2007. Dr. Michael Prosser is a renowned Intercultural Communication scholar and one of the co-founders of the academic field of Intercultural Communication. During the interview, Dr. Prosser shared some of his personal experiences as an Intercultural scholar and offered his valuable insights regarding the discipline of communication in general and the field of Intercultural Communication in particular. |
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BOOK REVIEW |
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Author(s): Jingjing Edmondsonn |
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David D. Perlmutter, Picturing China in the American Press: The Visual Portrayal of Sino-American Relations in Time Magazine, 1949-1973. (Lexington Books) Lanham, MD, USA, 2007. xxvii plus 264 pp. |
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The United Nations and Truth in Iraq |
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Author(s): Frederic Eckhard |
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Address to the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University |
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