The Story Of Gaogou Town: Information Communication And The Changes Of Rural Industry

With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Chinese society has characterized by many big social changes such as socialist land reform, land contract, the reform and opening up, rural-urban migration and etc. In this series of background, Gaogou has developed from an ordinary village to today's industry gathering place. As this reserch object, combining with social and historical background, we try to clarify the influence of information flowing on the local industrial development of Gaogou.From 1949 to 1976, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Chinese society has completed the land reform, processed the commune system, while a "Great Leap Forward ", the Cultural Revolution and a series of social unrest happened at the same time. After completing the socialist transformation, the goverment began to shift the focus of the development to the city. For the development of heavy industry-oriented industries, the government moved the productive value of rural areas to cities, which resulted in poor rural areas and life distress. Meanwhile, the establishment of urban-rural dual structure made the country to be closed and poor, and Gaogou was involved too. But local farmers were not content with this situation. By getting outside information accidentally, they developed the means of communication with the outside world by people themselves as the information flow channels. In this process of the information flowing, under the leadership of the elite in the country, they tried to use local resources to produce industrial products to improve the growing poverty of the peasants livings. But it was violated the policy at that time, the policy has prevented its further development.By the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, political tensions eased.the Gaogou township enterprises which had to shut down under the political pressure before tried to grow up. After the reforms, two factors contributed the frequent exchange of information between the urban and rural areas, and the development of township enterprises on this basis. First, there was some loose on the strict household registration system in the new era, which leading to the frequent movement of urban and rural populations. That provided the basis of policy to the rapidly growing sales group of Gaogou. Second, with the household contract responsibility system generation advanced in Gaogou, farmers freed from the land. The practical requirements of the rural surplus labor transferred to the non-agricultural industries also contributed to the development of sales group. Intentionally or unintentionally, as the salesman observed to the outside world and selected the information, useful information passed into Gaogou. Then the Gaogou regional industrial has gone through two types of electrical appliances from the production to high-temperature wire (cable industry Embryonic phase) in two stages. Meanwhile, after the first ten years in the reform and opening up, the Gaogou ownership of township enterprises passed through the changes from collectively owned enterprises to private ownership of business, grow to be the hometown of the Chinese cable.With the further opening up of society and the arrival of the information society, the means of the communication between Gaogou and the outside world has developed a tremendous changement. Widespread using of mass media such as newspapers, television, and some other media has become their new places to each for informations. In this modern society the media developed and the information flowed quickly. Under this social background the sales system has not changed. In some sense, they transmitted information, but also blocked it at the same time.