Radio Adaptation of Film in 1950s–1980s China

This article introduces a distinctive form of film-to-radio adaptation in China known as the ‘edited film recording’(dianying luyin jianji, 电影录音剪辑). Initiated by China National Radio in the 1950s, this format preserves the original film soundtrack while incorporating an omniscient narrator to compensate for the absence of imagery. At its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s, many foreign films were introduced to the Chinese audience through this cross-media adaptation. Focusing on the 1970 British-American film Jane Eyre (dir. Delbert Mann), this study argues that by retaining the original dialogue and adding first-person narration, the edited Jane Eyre recording fully mobilises the vocal materiality of dubbing artists Li Zi and Qiu Yuefeng, whose foreignized delivery articulates the romantic discourse of the narrative. This strategy generates auditory pleasure within a standardised Mandarin soundscape. Through nationwide broadcasts, this individual pleasure is transformed into a collective listening experience that fostered imaginative engagement with Western romance in 1980s China

Adaptation (eye) · Cinematography · Data recording · Recording media · Video recording · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism · Translation Studies and Practices