COMPARATIVE VISIONS:

MEDIA AND GLOBALIZATION IN GREATER CHINA

The media and globalization project is a large-scale comparative survey conducted in six cities in the Greater China region: Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xian.  This survey seeks to examine, among other things, how the Chinese people perceive globalization¡¦s impacts on their Chinese communities, and how the mass media shape these perceptions. This survey has interviewed more than 3,000 individuals from the above six cities, thereby resulting in a rich dataset that informs the academic community of the dynamics between media and the Chinese public opinion about globalization.  Part of the survey results have been presented at major international conferences and published in leading academic journals. This project team includes Prof. Chin-Chuan Lee, Dr. Zhou He, Dr. Mike Yao, Dr. Wan-Ying Lin and Dr. Francis Lee.

Survey Method

In Mainland cities, we applied multi-stage systematic sampling to draw our samples, 500 from each city. We first randomly drew residential committees from each administrative district in each city. Residential committees are official organs in China set up as part of the larger hukou (household registration) system. The number of residential committees chosen from an administrative district was proportional to its sampling population size (i.e., number of people between 18 to 65 years old). To achieve this, census figures of the population of different districts were derived and the numbers of actual respondents needed from various districts were calculated. The district sample sizes were then adjusted according to whether some administrative districts have part of their areas excluded from our study through the use of ¡§circular lines¡¨ in delimiting the geographical area. Based on the adjusted sample sizes, we then calculated the number of residential committees actually needed from each district. Next, we systematically selected the households in each residential committee and tried to further randomly select the target respondent with the ¡§last birthday method¡¨. Each household was visited up to five times if it was not reached in earlier visits. The survey was conducted in the four cities during December 2006 to January 2007. Using the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) survey formulae, our surveys in the four Mainland Chinese cities have achieved response rates ranging from 36.9% to 24.8%, which are considered respectable for surveys conducted in China.

In Hong Kong, as we had access to the complete and updated list of all residential household addresses through the government statistics office, we drew our sample stratified by housing types and districts. Next, notification letters were sent to all sampled households. The objectives of the survey were clearly explained and assurance of data confidentiality was underscored in the letters. An enquiry hotline was also set up to answer questions about the survey from the selected households. Fieldwork and data collection were carried out between 29 August 2007 and 26 October 2007. The interviews were conducted by well-trained interviewers using structured Chinese questionnaires. The interviewers further selected the target respondent in a household with the ¡§last birthday method¡¨. Each household was visited up to five times if it was not reached in earlier visits. The interviewed respondents also aged from 18 to 65. As a result, for the 500 successfully interviewed respondents, using AAPOR¡¦s SRR formulae, the response rate ranges from 50.2% to 52.5%.

In Taipei, we applied multi-stage stratified sampling as we did in the Mainland China. We collaborated with the Election Study Center of the National Chengchi University to collect the data.  In all twelve administrative districts, we first systematically drew a number of streets and then systematically selected the households in each selected street. The number of streets and households selected is proportional to the population size. Later on, the target respondents of the chosen households were screened with the ¡§last birthday¡¨ method and the specified age range (18-65). A total of 617 individuals were successfully interviewed, representing a response rate of 26.15%.   Part of the funding for this part of the survey came from the Taipei Municipal Government through competitive bidding.

The Sample

Sex

Age Distribution

Household Income

Occupations

Education Levels

Ranking of Favorable Countries

1.      In the mainland surveys, Hong Kong and Taiwan were not included.

2.      In the Taipei survey, Cuba, South Africa and Afghanistan were not included.

If we take away all those countries that exist in one of the surveys but not in another site of data collection (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cuba, South Africa and Afghanistan), we will have a more consistent and direct comparison between the six cities as below:

Media Exposure

The following charts compare the local and US media exposure of the respondents.

Hong Kong people read significantly more local newspapers and magazines than other places.  Taipei people are second to Hong Kong.  Both cities have more advanced print media markets than mainland cities.

Residents in all six cities frequently watch local TV.  However, people in all six cities do not seem to be frequent movie goers. 

Visiting local web sites is most popular in Taipei, far ahead of other cities.  Hong Kong came in as second.

Taipei is most keen on using the US media.  Xian is more receptive to U.S. television programs and movies than other mainland cities.  Hong Kong is next to Taipei in visiting U.S. websites but far ahead of mainland cities.

Perceptions of the US

The following two charts respectively show the positive and negative perceptions of the US by the respondents in the six cities. Each kind of perception has two dimensions. The positive dimensions include Good US Institutions and US World Leadership. And the negative ones are US as a Hegemon and Negative Way of Life.

The six cities generally do not tend to agree that the US¡¦s social institutions are good. Taipei, Shanghai and Hong Kong respondents are slightly more likely to agree to this perception than the other three cities. Instead, all the six cities have higher tendency to agree to the US world leadership. Chengdu, Xian, Taipei and Shanghai respondents are the strongest supporters of the US world leadership.

Taipei is least likely to hold a negative attitude toward the US.  Interestingly, Hong Kong as a cosmopolitan city is the strongest believer of the US as a hegemonic power.  Beijing respondents are more likely than other cities to believe the way of life in the US is negative.