This welcome book comes in response to an uptick in research on television and modernization. The volume's first strength is its compact assessment of the subject in China. The attention to programming, not just policy, and the wider conversation about television in other media are also notable. . . .[I]n looking at how 'the tube' stood as a symbol and instrument of social change and modernity in China, Wen makes a useful contribution to studies in television history and Chinese media. She discusses what people watched and how the images on this new device in the home (and the set itself) entered and altered their lives. The new medium sat in a constellation of older media and practices of communication and culture. The disruptions caused by television therefore carried the markings of China, but readers will recognize commonalities with experience in other countries as well. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.
