AMARC是个国际NGO，致力于社区广播，在全球110个国家有3000多个会员。由于中国对无线电控制非常严格，因此AMARC在中国没有任何活动。包括我在内的许多人也都对AMARC没有任何概念。他们这次来，也是想了解中国人如何进行信息交流。社区广播听上去似乎有些像地下电台，但AMARC是个正规组织，主要在于向社区包括弱势群体提供信息双向传播，而非地下电台那种经常与非法活动联系在一起。
昨天与Steve一行聊的非常开心，我也介绍了我所掌握的中国人获取和传播信息的途径以及方式，不过由于记忆可能会出错，而且总是不那么有逻辑，因此写这篇博客，以做备份。本文主要介绍我所知道的农村地区获取信息的途径，有中英文两个版本，内容会有所出入。
我1981年出生在江苏北部农村，一直待到18岁离家到北京上大学。江苏在全国算富裕省份，但苏北是相对较贫困地区，目前在全国大概处于中等稍微偏上水平。我小时候的生活比较艰苦，那个时候获取外界信息的主要渠道是广播、电视和报纸，而获取邻里信息就是靠口耳相传了。至少在1990年代中期以前，我们那里电视还没有完全普及，广播还是个非常重要的手段。记得当时每个村都有一个广播站，其实就是功放和高音喇叭，而这又通过广播线与乡里的广播站连在一起，乡里的又是和县里连在一起。就这样，构成了一个有线广播网。
不过，这些广播站都是政府所有，发布的也大多是“党和国家”的大政方针和一些娱乐节目，村民自己是无法通过广播发布信息的。村长有时候会通过广播发表自己的长篇大论，当然大部分时间是叫谁谁去开会，有时候谁家收到信了村里也会通知去拿。
大约1990年左右，政府要求每家每户都安装一个有线广播接收器，其实就是个小喇叭，可以在家收听广播，有点《1984》里电幕的意思。不过这接收器是可以关闭的，也没有其他复杂功能。除了村里的广播站以外，村小学也有一个广播， 不过主要用来升国旗、做操和开会时用，基本没有信息传播作用。
事实上，当时许多人家都有可以收听中短波的收音机，至少我们家附近家家都有。但到我7、8岁的时候，这些收音机大多坏了，没坏的也被我们拆了取里面的吸铁石玩。
大约是1990年代中期之后，有线广播网被废弃，进而建立了无线FM网络。县里设立了一个广播发射塔，可以覆盖全县。不过这个时候，电视已经基本普及，广播已经式微。
说到这里，想到一件非常有趣的事情。记得7、8年前去一个同学家的时候，他家邻居一个老头由于对村干部不满，自己买了个高音喇叭挂在门前树上，每天一有空就自己播音骂人。而村干部也对他无可奈何，当真有趣的紧，只是苦了我同学家每天都要忍受噪音。
至于纸质媒体，截止今天村里都只有大队部（即村部）和学校订有报纸和极少的农村刊物，加上村里年龄较大者很多不怎么认字，所以纸媒的影响力在农村一直是不大的。
1990年代中期以后，电视开始成为主要的信息获取手段，不过当时只有县电视台、省电视台、中央一、二套以及附近市县电视台，加起来不超过6、7个。
1998年前后，程控电话开始兴起，四五年后进入普及状态。此时，电话也随之成为信息传播的重要手段。记得2005年的时候，地震谣言通过电话传遍全县，近200万人在惊慌中走出房屋、彻夜未眠。
2002年左右，手机开始在农村出现并迅速普及，如今村里基本可以达到每家一部以上手机。由于有大量年轻人在外打工，而他们无疑都是有手机的，所以实际应该远远高于这个数字。也就是在同一时期，互联网开始在农村发芽，如今基本每个镇都有一个以上网吧，部分条件优越的农户甚至已经购买了电脑开通了宽带。距我家10公里左右的一个村子，甚至早在2000年就全村通上了宽带，家家都有电脑。当然，他们那个村子比较富裕，不具有普遍意义。
由于离家时间太长，根据我对家乡年轻人有限的了解，他们获取信息主要是网络和电视，交流则有网络和手机等渠道。
至于在今日中国的城市，人们获取信息的渠道也莫过于纸质媒体、电台、电视和网络。这其中，电视和网络占居主导地位，后者在年轻人中几乎是唯一手段。人们在网络交流也丰富多彩，从BBS、BLOG、QQ群，兴趣小组到今天的twitter等等不一而足。不再赘述。
How Chinese Rural Residents Acquire and Disseminate Information During the Past 20 Years
Thanks to the recommendation of Isaac Mao, I met with Steve Buckley(President of AMARC), Ashish Sen(VP for Asia Pacific) and Mavria Victoria Cabrera Balleza (VP for WIN) yesterday at Houhai Beijing. Due to some mistakes that I might make or something missed in our friendly conversation, I’ve decided to blog on How Chinese Rural Residents Acquire and Disseminate Information During the Past 20 Years.
I had been living in the countryside of northern Jiangsu Province till 18 years old and then I went to beijing for college. For its coastal advantage, Jiangsu is one of the richest provinces in China, but the northern part is not as prosperous as its southern neighbour,especially some 20 years ago.
At that time, the villagers acquired outside news mostly by radio,TV and newspapers.As for the neigborhood news, it’s all about mouth-to-mouth. The TV did not prevail untill middle 1990s in my hometown. Before that, radio was a vital method to get information. There was a wired broadcast station in almost every village inhabited by some 2000 people and it was connected to the station in the town, the town connected with the county. Thus, a wired broadcast network was set up. Such broadcast stations were state-owned and behaved as the so-called mouthpiece of the government and Communist Party. Sometimes, the village government sent notices to hold meetings and inform villagers to get their letters or somethings else via it.
Around 1990, every family was required to install a radio receiver,but it didn’t work anymore several years later.Actually, many families at that time owned a short-wave radio.
After 1995, the wired broadcast network was abolished and a brand-new FM network(yeah, a real radio network) covered the whole county or about some 2 million people was established. But at the same time,radio already lost its influence and TV prevailed. There’re only 6-7 TV channels at that time, while we have more than 50 channels nowadays.
As for the paper-based media, because only the village governments and schools subscribed newspapers and a few magazines , and also due to the literacy, it’s not so important in my hometown.
Around 1998, telephone was still something new. But serveral years later, almost every family got one and it since became an important means of spreading information. In 2005 , earthquake rumors spreaded throughout my hometown by telephone, nearly 2 million people stayed outside in panic for the whole night .
Seven years ago, some rich guys bgan to use cell phone and it’s very popular among youngsters now. At present, almost every family has one. Meanwhile, my hometown had access to the Internet ,and now there is at least one Internet cafe in each town. One village which is about 10 kilometers away from my home, got broadband access at as early as 2000.Of course, that village is quite rich, alomst every family owns a car.
As for China today, we can acquire and spread news through many means such as Internet/TV/radio/newspaper/Mobile Phone. We can disseminate information by online forums/blogs/QQ groups(QQ is the Chinese clone of the once-popular IM client ICQ)/twitter and so on. I’d rather not repeat it.
The above is just a rough summary about how Chinese people get information and spread it that I know about.
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