Sounds of a migrant city: radio representation and cultural citizenship in the case of Shenzhen, China

• Published in: Citizenship studies Vol. 25; no. 8; pp. 1042 - 1057
• Main Author: Lei, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 17.11.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Case studies; Cities; Citizenship; Content analysis; cultural citizenship; Local media; Migrant workers; Migrants; Radio; representation; Rural urban migration; rural-urban migrant workers; Shenzhen; Urbanization; China
• ISSN: 1362-1025; 1469-3593
• DOI: 10.1080/13621025.2021.1981826

The cultural dimension has been considered as an important site in exploring Chinese citizenship. This article examines cultural citizenship-making practices with a focus on rural-urban migrants and local radio. Since the opening-up reforms of 1979, Shenzhen, located in southeast China, has attracted many migrant workers and has grown into a prosperous migrant city. As such, Shenzhen provides a compelling case study in examining the relationship between media, radio in particular, and cultural citizenship-making in the Chinese context. Using content analysis and case studies, this article explores the ways in which Shenzhen was represented on radio during the 1990s and 2000s - key decades in the city's development - through a study of two specific radio genres: news radio and late-night talk-back radio. By exploring listener involvement in late-night talk-back radio, the article analyses the practices that were employed by migrants to satisfy their desire for inclusion and recognition. This article suggests that migrant listeners' affinity for radio was a vital component of the cultural citizenship-negotiating trajectory in the history of the urbanisation of Shenzhen. The discussion of radio, representation and inclusion has implications for contemporary debates surrounding citizenship in the digital age.