Collecting Coffins:A Thick Description on the Practicing of Communication Culture in a Southern Chinese Village
This paper aims to discuss about the operation of communication culture underlying villagers'information behaviors by analyzing an event of collecting coffins in a southern Chinese village.The examination of information flows in the event and daily information activities of the villagers reveals that the village committee controlled the channels for policies and created an exclusive communication pattern at that time.Meanwhile,the villagers interacted frequently and intimately as usual,but they intentionally confined themselves to spreading factual information while avoiding exchanging their attitudes and decisions.Therefore,the flourishing interpersonal communication in the village failed to nourish a constructive public discussion.This culture has both advantages and disadvantages for grassroots governance,while its local significance lies in sustaining the community,through which one member establish identities with the group,arriving at a way of life that is consistent with that of other members.