| Nowadays,people’s understanding of media has become more diversified,and the understanding of media is not only limited to the mass communication media such as TV,radio,and cell phones,but also roads,bridges,and cables,which seem to have more material properties,can also become media,and even become the infrastructure of communication.From the perspective of "media materiality," this paper considers roads as communication infrastructures as media and explores the connecting role of roads.On this basis,we focus on the process of social interaction and reproduction of social relations under the perspective of "road as medium".We try to show the material and social properties of roads as a medium,and then show the flow of social relations and the reshaping of social relations from the ephemeral process of road construction.From a macro perspective,this paper firstly explores how the road as a medium connects the state with the countryside under the existence of the grassroots organization "people’s commune";secondly,from a meso perspective,it explores how the road as a medium connects the village committee with the village committee of each village group and the village committee with the county and township governments,thus causing a series of relationship Finally,through a microscopic perspective,we explore the social relations within the same village group presented by the road as a medium.Through such a chronological presentation,this paper hopes to show the changes in social relations reflected by the roads in different periods.This paper finds that: on the eve of the reform,the social relations reflected by road construction were based on "patronage relations" and "atomized" relations under the high monopoly of resources by the state;after the reform and opening up to the beginning of the 21st century,along with the advancement of social transformation,the social relations reflected by road construction were changing.After the reform and opening up to the beginning of the 21st century,along with the advancement of social transformation,the social relationship presented by the road construction is the changing social relationship from trust to distrust;during the period of poverty alleviation,the road construction shows the social relationship pattern combining the emotional interpersonal relationship and the rational interpersonal relationship.Roads have become the externalization and symbol of social relationship changes. |
