Seeking News, Making China Information, Technology, and the Emergence of Mass Society

"This is an important book, both for its conceptual sophistication as well as for its rich empirical detail. It makes a convincing case for the centrality of radio-based (and intermedial) communications for understanding how mass politics and mass media became intertwined in modern China, and provides unique contributions not just to new understandings of twentieth century Chinese history, but also to broader discussions in global media history and global histories of technology."
-Arunabh Ghosh, author of Making It Count: Statistics and Statecraft in the Early People's Republic of China "News and propaganda have been central to China's 20th century story. John Alekna's deeply-researched book gives the inside story of how that 'newsscape' was made, providing a powerful new insight into the formation of a society through war and revolution."
-Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism "Seeking News, Making China is a fresh, ambitious, and engaging meditation on the intersection of mass politics and mass media in twentieth-century China. By charting the emergence of a distinctive Chinese 'newscape,' it effectively challenges venerable assumptions about the relationship between technology, nationhood, and the news."
-Richard R. John, author of Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications "Through his meticulous research, Alekna has retrieved valuable primary sources purporting to highlight the importance of radio in China from 1919 to 1968.... Alekna portrays an attention-grabbing picture of modern China through his captivating narration and persuasive interpretation of radio and its listeners. Recommended."
-P. F. Shan, CHOICE "By placing news at the center of his study, Alekna introduces the term 'newsscape' to describe a communication ecosystem characterized by the dynamic interplay of social, technological, geographical, and infrastructural contexts surrounding news. This concept foregrounds everyday experiences and behaviors, traversing political regimes while taking into account the diverse vocabularies that the Chinese people used to refer to the transmission of information. Within this framework, the book offers fresh perspectives on how modern China and its mass society have evolved together with the transformation of broadcasting infrastructure and the practice of news."-Yue Liang and Fa-ti Fan, Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science "As the first book-length, English-language study on the rise of Chinese radio, Seeking News, Making China addresses a conspicuous gap in historiography. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the topic of technology and communication in modern East Asia."-Anatoly Detwyler, Technology and Culture