Introduction -- A historical review of the discourse of the local in twentieth-century China -- An overview of television series productions in the 2000s -- Alternative translation: performativity in dubbing films in local languages -- Empowering local community: TV news talk shows in local languages -- Ambivalent laughter: comic sketches in CCTV's spring festival eve gala -- Popular music and local youth identity in the age of the Internet -- The rhetoric of local languages as the marginal: Chinese underground and independent films by Jia Zhangke and others -- Multiplicity in mainstream studio films in local languages -- The unassimilated voice in recent fiction in local languages -- Conclusion.