Transnational China Project Update

Chinese Attitudes and Beliefs in Transition, Says Pollster

Economic and political reforms are changing the values and attitudes of Chinese in surprising ways. Victor Yue Yuan, president of Horizon Survey Research, China’s largest private polling company, and vice president of the Chinese Marketing Research Association, reported on these changes in a talk that the Transnational China Project (TCP) co-sponsored with the Asia Society April 28.
Spiritually, according to Yuan, although most Chinese say they believe in luck and destiny, very few believe in deities or supernatural entities. And in 1995 only two percent said they “believed in nothing,” but those stating that rose to 35 percent in 2002. Surprisingly, there were no obvious differences in the spiritual beliefs of those in the countryside and those in the cities.

When asked which values should be promoted in Chinese society, some 56 percent said “politeness,” 40 percent said “honesty,” and nearly a third said a “sense of social responsibility” and “respect for knowledge.” And also surprisingly, few Chinese cited “devotion to work,” “courage,” “communicating with others,” “obtaining information,” “imagination,” “independence,” “austerity,” “canniness,” or “loyalty” as values that needed to be promoted.

When asked who has responsibility to support those in need, some 55 percent said “everybody,” 37 percent “government,” three percent each said “rich people” or “NGOs,” and less than one percent cited the “international” community.

Despite the tumultuous reforms in recent years, urban residents are optimistic about their futures. According to Yuan, 70 percent think the economic situation is likely to improve. Many, and especially entrepreneurs, also believe that China’s accession to the World Trade Organization will bring more positive opportunities. Nevertheless, more than half of all urban residents are concerned about unemployment, nearly a third are worried about social security, and around a quarter cite environmental protection, medical care reform, economic development, housing reform, and education as important concerns. These opinions contrast with 1999, when urbanites were most concerned about official corruption, and 2000, when environmental protection was the top problem.

Chinese views of the outside world are also in transition, said Yuan. Some two-thirds believe China’s international status has risen in recent years. And, except for relations with Japan, they think relations with all other countries are improving. More than half think China should actively cooperate with other countries in fighting terrorism. Relations with the United States are seen as problematic, however. In October 2002 only 10 percent listed the United States as a country that is friendly toward China. The U.S. came behind Singapore (28 percent), Russia (28 percent), North Korea (25 percent), South Korea (18 percent), and Australia (12 percent). Chinese recognized the strong economic ties with the United States, however, with 81 percent citing it as the most important country for China’s economic development. Some 49.6 percent listed Japan as important, and 12 percent cited Russia. Overall, in comparison with Japan and the United States, Russia is currently the country most favored by Chinese.

Further Reforms in China Inevitable, Argues China Expert

China’s opening to the outside world has created inevitable and unavoidable pressures for further political and economic reforms. This is the conclusion of noted China expert, Ross Terrill, researcher at the Fairbanks Center at Harvard, who presented arguments from his new book “The New Chinese Empire” at a talk at the Baker Institute April 17.

According to Terrill, ties with Taiwan and Hong Kong will help drive the Mainland toward democracy. “Democracy in Taiwan since the late 1980s, and to a degree in Hong Kong in the 1990s, proved that Chinese civilization is not antithetical to elections and a free press. ‘Well water may not intrude into river water,’ Beijing warns of Hong Kong’s influence on the Mainland. But Taiwan and Hong Kong—through language, family, the press, and entertainment—will continue to affect Mainland people’s thinking. Especially from Taiwan—that influence includes a strong attachment to democracy,” said Terrill.

Terrill further speculated that the central government and Communist Party will face increasing pressure for political reform from ethnic groups. “An empire, as a political construction from above, is by its nature repressive—an artifice to hold together diverse cultures. Beijing not only faces a cry for political participation in the big Chinese-race cities of the coast, but also in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, it experiences opposition from peoples who want freedom as ethnic groups. The new Chinese empire is vulnerable to such double pressure because of its brittle centralized Leninist rule and the anachronism of multicultural empire in the 21st century,” he said.

TCP Researcher Receives Guggenheim Fellowship

Jianying Zha, a writer and visiting scholar/researcher affiliated with the Transnational China Project, received a Guggenheim Fellowship to do research for a follow-up to her 1995 book, China Pop: How Soap Operas, Tabloids and Best Sellers Are Transforming a Culture. Some of that research will be applicable to the TCP’s study of how civil society is marketed in China.
Born and raised in Beijing and recently living in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Zha returned to China for a year to collect data formally and informally from a variety of sources.

“I’m interested in the emerging new middle class in China,” said Zha, who will conduct interviews, visit Chinese survey groups and study Chinese Internet websites.

In China Pop, Zha portrays the impact of popular culture on traditional Chinese society. She wants to explore other topics in her next book. For the TCP, she wants to talk to the trendsetters and visionaries—mainly entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural figures—in China’s emerging consumer culture to identify the themes and values they hope to promote in the future.

Zha, who has a master’s of philosophy in comparative literature from Columbia University, noted that the work she does for the TCP will be “strictly academic,” but the research for her book will be more “literary journalism.”
Because Guggenheim Fellowships are made freely, with no special conditions attached, they are among the most competitive awards in academia. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed based on both their past achievement and their promise for the future.

The purpose of the fellowship is to provide funds that will allow fellows to work with as much creative freedom as possible, in any manner they deem necessary to their work.

The people Zha meets could serve as characters for her book, and their demographic details could be helpful to the TCP’s search for a more contemporary view of Asian culture.

With a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the TCP is analyzing messages conveyed through advertising in China to determine whether the appeals are being targeted toward the new middle class.

Scholars and Educators Worldwide Use TCP Online Resources
The Transnational China Project examines how the circulation of people, ideas, values, and technologies among Chinese societies affects contemporary Chinese culture. Reports, transcripts, audio files, and extensive image archives from workshops and public lectures can be found on the project’s bilingual website, http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina.

The TCP’s website has been listed as an invaluable resource for the study of contemporary Chinese culture by the Association for Asian Studies, the Center for Research Libraries at the University of Chicago, the Asia Society, the Internet Guide to Chinese Studies, and the Encyclopedia Britannica online.

Scholars at many American universities and colleges use the website as a curriculum resource, including California State Sacramento, Chicago, Colgate, Colorado, East Central, Fullerton, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard, Michigan, Northeastern State, Ohio State, Rivier, Salem State, Saint Joseph, San Francisco State, SUNY New Paltz, Texas, Vanderbilt, Wellesley, and Wisconsin.

The project’s materials are also cited by researchers and instructors at such foreign universities as Australian National, Billkent (Turkey), Hong Kong, Keele (UK), Leiden, London, Malaysia, Ottawa, Simon Fraser, Autonoma de Barcelona, and Western Sydney.

Transnational China Project Home Page
James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Home Page
Asian Studies at Rice University Home Page
Rice University Home Page
Copyright and Disclaimer

Note on Accessibility and Updating:
These pages were designed to meet current Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines (W3C WAI GL ). If you have problems accessing these pages, or other comments or suggestions, please contact us at [tnchina@rice.edu]. This page [http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/] last updated by the Transnational China Project on February 28, 2004.