Intellectuals and popular television in China

Expectations was a popular TV serial which caused a sensation in China in the early 1990s. By examining Expectations as a cultural phenomenon, this article questions the role of intellectuals in cultural transformation and reconstruction when the cultural space (market) in China has become more and more commercialized. Will it have the consequence of moving the intellectuals from a position of being cultural leaders or cultural defenders towards a more marginal social position - even out of the ‘popular sphere’? Is the effort that intellectuals put in, in the past decade, for Chinese modernization really tenable at the end of the 20th century? More pointedly, in what way can the ideals of Chinese intellectuals be genuinely workable when popular culture seems to expand indefinitely and when the elite culture promoted by intellectuals is no longer relevant? The issues are by no means new, yet the need for a coherent answer becomes increasingly urgent, particularly as the relationship between intellectuals and popular culture unfolds.