Platformization, pan-entertainment and piracy: What the fast-changing Chinese mediasphere tells us about technology, policy and the state

The recent rise of media platforms in China is in line with China’s ‘going out’ policy of the past two decades, as well as with the Internet Plus and other state sponsored national information technology-related initiatives. The intellectual property-centred pan entertainment strategy further signals a change in the platforms’ content production, distribution and reception. The spin-off driven, derivative platform culture means content, and intellectual property, have become the front and centre of this new digital economy. This article examines the fast-moving media and cultural ecosystem in China in relation to the state, globalization, technology and piracy. More specifically, it looks at platform/distribution in the context of convergence while investigates questions of online piracy and copyright enforcements. This article concludes that China’s global ambition, coupled with its copyright-centred platform economy, marks a historical moment in which China transitions from being a copyright violator to a copyright enforcer.