Behind the Curtain of Chinese Prisons: Polished Narratives for Public Consumption

• In Event: Roundtable: Media

Abstract

This study investigates how Chinese prisons use cultural rehabilitation programs to shape public perceptions of incarceration through state-run social media platforms. It focuses on how prison design and staged, publicly-broadcasted events promote an image of incarceration as humane and reform-focused. It also examines how these portrayals feature aestheticized and gendered representations of correctional officers, reinforcing and complicating state narratives about authority and care.

The study employs a mixed-methods ethnographic design. In August 2025, one author plans to conduct fieldwork at public visitation events in Shanghai that have limited admission. The author will collect detailed fieldnotes and possibly speak with other attendees to understand their interpretations. This in-person research will be complemented by digital ethnography of Chinese prisons’ official WeChat and TikTok accounts. If the author cannot access the event, a comparative analysis will be conducted by contrasting material from the aforementioned digital ethnography with the published narratives of civilians who have attended prison visitation events.

Through this approach, the study aims to analyze how cultural rehabilitation is not only practiced but also staged for public consumption. It argues that these representations function as ideological tools that normalize incarceration by embedding it in affective and cultural narratives.

Authors

• Yuan Gu, University of California, San Diego

• Kawain Lo, The Pennsylvania State University