Abstract

This chapter examines the evolving role of copyright in China's media economy, tracing its history from a censorship tool in Imperial China to the People's Republic's first copyright law in 1990, and its amendment for World Trade Organization membership in 2001. It explores how copyright has supported marketisation, digitisation and platformisation in China's media landscape, with a focus on the modernisation of state-owned media, the challenges of piracy and the unauthorised distribution of content. The chapter also highlights how China's tech giants, as both communication platforms and copyright owners, are driving digital copyright agendas within an expanding digital media economy.

Date

September 3, 2025

Authors

Lucy Montgomery, Xiang Ren

Book

Routledge Handbook of Chinese Media

Pages

353-367

Publisher

Routledge