Television Into The Village And Its Impact On Rural Governance

Since the 1980s,China's rural society has begun to undergo tremendous changes.As a modern means of communication,TV media is a"representation"of modern life.It integrates into the rural social life in the process of modernization and changes the rural life.With the gradual introduction and popularization of television into thousands of isolated rural communities,it has occupied many areas of rural life with an overwhelming force,and has been quietly implanted into the daily life of villagers in its unique way.The rural society has become an important place for the TV to perform,and the activity of watching TV has also become an important part of farmers'family life.TV plays an important role in guiding the changes of rural social lifestyle,social structure and governance structure.It is not only the main source of information for people,but also changes people's values in its unique way.The proposal and advancement of the modernization process require the countryside to change the original way of life and governance.It is under this circumstance that the television media appears in the rural society with a"positive"attitude,and it influences the originally closed rural society in an explicit or implicit way,constantly spreading the information,lifestyle,values and other contents of the outside world to the rural society.In a subtle way,TV affects the political culture of rural people,the power structure of rural society and the interpersonal relationship in rural society.Television plays different roles in different development stages of rural society.By causing changes in various aspects of rural society,it has a direct or indirect impact on rural governance.This paper,based on a case study of a village in Henan province,discusses the changes caused by television in different stages and how to produce these changes.Before TV enters the village,influenced by the traditional national governance mode,the information of the country's political events and policy arrangements is spread in the vast rural society through layers of communication.To a certain extent,this way of information dissemination makes villagers have very limited understanding of political information from the outside world and can only be obtained from village cadres.With their own advantages of power,wealth and resources,the village elites play the role of"filter" in the transmission of village information and enjoy higher authority in the village.Rural society is also an"acquaintance society",with frequent contacts among villagers and flourishing public recreational activities.With the introduction and popularization of television,the authority of rural traditional elite has undergone a dynamic change.The authority of the village elite is challenged and shaken,making its relationship with the villagers appear subtle changes.The traditional pattern of"acquaintance society" has been broken and gradually turned to the pattern of"semi-acquaintance society".Village collective entertainment also began to turn to family entertainment.With the advent of the Internet era,the role of television in rural society has changed again,which has caused a series of changes in rural social structure,and has either promoted or hindered the rural governance.Based on the different roles of TV in different historical development stages of rural society,this paper discusses the interactive relationship between TV media and rural social structure changes,and thus explores the relationship between TV and rural governance and its influence.