THE CHINESE INTERMEDIARIES AND THE CROSS-CULTURAL MIGRATION OF A JAPANESE ADULT VIDEO ACTRESS

Abstract

Ayako, a Japanese adult video (AV) actress, has achieved amazing popularity in mainland China since 2010. This paper investigates how the two Chinese agencies re-produce and re-package Ayako as a cultural product in the Chinese context, based on the data obtained by participant observation. It aims to reconsider current theories on the cross-cultural migration of cultural products by revealing the roles of local intermediaries. The findings reveal that the two Chinese agencies played a significant role in the “transformation” of the cultural product in China, even though their operations are usually invisible to outsiders. The two Chinese agencies not only attempt to remove Ayako’s previous image as an AV actress, but also assign abundant new meanings to her to make her acceptable in China. The findings also suggest that power relations between different cultural groups “inside” the intermediaries have a great impact on the transformation of the cultural produc