In Pictures: Changing Trends in China's Communication over Past 40 Yrs

People visit the Beautiful China image corridor as part of a major exhibition held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up in Beijing. [Xinhua/Chen Jianli]

A series of images from the past and present reflect on the great changes that have been seen in China since the introduction of the reform and opening-up policy in 1978.

In these pictures, the scenes and everyday objects used as communication tools and forms of entertainment show the profound differences in people's daily lives and the social environment over the past 40 years.

A Tibetan woman from southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region plays on a smart phone with her friend. [Xinhua/Jue Guo]

An exhibitor introduces a laptop to a purchasing agent on October 15 at the 124th China Import and Export Fair held in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. [Xinhua/Liang Xu]

A computer on display at the 56th China Import and Export Fair held in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province in the autumn of 1984 [Xinhua/Liu Yusheng]

Li Xiaohui, a rural woman of the Jino ethnic group from southwest China's Yunnan Province, classifies goods at her e-commerce service station in her hometown. [Xinhua/Lin Yiguang]

People share their old communication devices at an activity called "Seeing New Changes Since Reform and Opening-up through Old Objects" in a community in Zhenjiang, east China's Jiangsu Province. [Xinhua]

Cell phones appeared in the 80s, signaling that China had entered the era of mobile communication. [People.com.cn/Zhao Shuyan]

A camera model popular in the early stages of reform and opening-up [People.com.cn/Zhao Shuyan]

An old radio [People.com.cn/Zhao Shuyan]

Old TVs exhibited in the exhibition to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up in Beijing [People.com.cn/Zhao Shuyan]

(Source: People.com.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China)