Teaching marital intimacy: Affective governance in Chinese divorce reality television

This article explores affective governance in Chinese reality TV, with a particular focus on See You Again , a divorce-themed program aired on the state-run platform Mango TV. Debuted in conjunction with the Civil Code amendment imposing a divorce cooling-off period, the show is a manifestation of state interest in fostering family stability and social order. Using critical discourse analysis, this research examines how the program constructs dissolution and rekindling of marital relationships in emotionally appealing ways, capitalizing on Confucian values, as well as traces of neoliberal self-management and personal transformation. See You Again does not deliver explicit ideological messages, but it mobilizes viewers through affective techniques connecting forms of emotional comfort with the nation's goals. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion of how reality television functions as a liminal cultural space which forges intimate life and mediates public reaction to state intervention into the private domain.