Communication has played an important role in the dramatic transformation of the rural social system in the People's Republic of China since 1949. Mass media in China in the first two decades of communist rule were underdeveloped when compared with that of the Western world. Interpersonal communication, on the contrary, has been proved to be one…

Based on an extensive review of the literature, this analysis of the special role of communications in relation to social development examines three major groups of writings: (1) those concerned with perceptions and definitions of early concepts of communication/communication theory and underdevelopment/development, which provide the basis for a…