Brief chronology of
events leading up to the
implementation of the
“radio-diffusion
network” by the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP):
1831: Michael Faraday
proves that electricity can
be transmitted across
space using electromagnetism.
1880s: Heinrich Hertz
observes wave energy,
not physically connected
to the wires from which it
emanated.
1922: Radio Corporation
of China, an American
company, establishes the
first radio broadcast
station in China, a 50 watt
radio tower located in
Shanghai. They also sold
radio receivers.
1956: The Communist
Party begins to focus more
on the implementation of
wired broadcasting
systems (referred to as
“radio-diffusion networks”)
alongside communization
and the collectivization of
villages.
RADIOPHONIC DIFFUSION THROUGHOUT
VILLAGES AND COMMUNES IN 1950s CHINA
By Jean Mathieu Beauchemin, U4 Joint-Honours Philosophy and East Asian Studies
Supervisor: Professor Thomas Lamarre, Dept. of East Asian Studies
Central Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party
1876: Alexander Graham
Bell patents his first electric
loudspeaker (capable of
reproducing intelligible
speech) as part of his
telephone.
Broadcasting
Administration
Bureau
The main focus of my research was the theorization of
loudspeakers and how they affect perception in transforming
the sonic environments that they permeate, create and
transform. Below are listed three examples of how
loudspeakers and their site-specific mode of organization in
a wired network altered people’s relations to the broadcast
content, the nation, and to each other:
Radiophonic “Neutrality”
Provincial
People’s
Broadcasting
Stations
Municipal
People’s
Broadcasting
Station
The technological discoveries that made possible the
transmission and reception of electric signals from one
point to others – wired or not – did not simply allow sound
to travel across long distances, but for a certain kind of
sound to be produced. A reporter’s voice would be altered
based on the power of the stations, the distance to be
crossed, the apparatus at the receiving end, amongst other
factors. The extraneous noise created by the radio
transmission technology called for a modification of how
one talked over the radio / loudspeaker, and necessitated a
more formal and clearly articulated speech.
Central people’s
Broadcasting Station
1949: By the time the CCP
takes over, there are 82 radio
stations in China, 22 in
Shanghai. There are only 8
wired stations and 500
loudspeakers in total.
1959: 122 broadcasting
stations, 11 124 wired
stations, 4 570 000
loudspeakers are installed.
The wired broadcasting
network is most complete
and powerful in Shanghai,
Guangdong, Heilongjiang,
Jilin, Jiangsu, Anhui, and
Hubei.
State Council of the
People's Republic of
China
Department of
Propaganda
1896: Gugliemo Marconi
patents first radio wave
detection device.
Central People’s
Broadcasting
Station
Departments of
Propaganda of
Provincial Party Cells
Provincial and Municipal
People’s Broadcasting
Stations
Special thanks to the Mr. Harry Samuel for his generosity and for making this
internship possible.
County Wired
Radio Stations
Acoustic Space & the Local-Nation
Township level
Departments of
Propaganda of Local Party
Cells
Rural Wired Broadcasting
Network
Based on diagram found in Liu, Alan P. L. Radio Broadcasting in
Communist China. Cambridge, MA: Center for International
Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1964. Print.
Based on diagram found in Liu, Alan P. L. Radio Broadcasting in
Communist China. Cambridge, MA: Center for International
Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1964. Print.
Perhaps the feature that is most specific to loudspeakers is
their ability to acoustically determine the mood of a given
space for a duration of time. Within the context here, the local
spaces – communes, cafeterias, schools, etc. – were often
transformed into a national space. Engulfed in the projection
of revolutionary songs, transmediated model plays and news
stories on China’s rapid development, the individual’s nonmechanized voice was constantly forced into a dissonant
symbiosis with the nation’s electrically amplified one.
This
diagram
represents
the
modes
of
transmission
This diagram shows the relationship between the
and
relays
between
the
Central
Station
in
Beijing
and
divisions within the Communist Party Propaganda
the loudspeaker network in the local townships or
Departments and the Broadcasting Station hierarchy.
communes.
The
transmission
between
the
central
Monitoring teams would be set up at most stations in
station and the municipal and provincial, and between
the communes to summarize the content that was
the
latter
and
the
county
wired
stations
usually
broadcast and how people reacted to it, as well as report
occurred
via
radio
wave
transmission.
The
signal
back to their local party cell commander. This was part of
picked up by the county would then be re-diffused via
a larger feedback loop whereby the CCP would
the
wired
loudspeaker
network
into
the
streets,
disseminate propaganda, record the reactions, and
modify the media according to this received data. Their dormitories, cafeterias, schools, trains, trees, etc. The
individual stations could also broadcast content
claim was that the propaganda represented the
geared
particularly
towards
the
local
commune.
generalized version of the masses’ thoughts.
Interrupting the Personal
As is exemplified in Tian Zhuangzhuang’s film “The Blue
Kite”, the spontaneous alteration of the audio-atmosphere
characteristic of loudspeakers had the potential to disrupt
personal gatherings and direct one’s acoustic direction
towards an event of “national” importance. In one scene, a
family gathers together to celebrate the forthcoming
marriage of their daughter, when the loudspeakers start
blaring with an announcement that Stalin had died. Due to
this, they had to postpone the wedding for ten days.