Flexible Production and Identity-Making: He-Pai-Ju (co-produced TV drama) in Cold War East Asia and Cultural Hierarchies

[[abstract]]The thesis examines the origin and transformation of recently-called He-Pai-Ju (co-produced TV drama of Taiwan and China) in Taiwanese television industry in Chapter 1 and takes the Cold War as a method to explore a critical approach other than national/anti-transnational/anti-regional popular culture criticism in Chapter 2. The research method is elaborated in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 reviews the way He-Pai-Ju was embedded in the Taiwanese society just stepping out from the Cold War era. The state, media, and society over-determined the boundary of Taiwanese TV culture in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Chapter 5 then concludes that in the 21st century, He-Pai-Ju symbolizes the flexible production of Taiwanese TV drama, competes in the ongoing cultural ideological conflict between Taiwan nationalism/localism and Greater China nationalism, and deepens the national identity crisis in Taiwan. Taking He-Pai-Ju as an example of Taiwanese TV industry’s transnationalization, Chapter 6 demonstrates the ‘Taiwaneseness’ of the de-territorialized Taiwanese TV culture, which means a shallow and flexible melodramatic entertaining culture.