Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Political opinion in China

A recent report of the Pew Global Attitudes Project focused on China.

It shows that satisfaction with the country's direction and economy has risen dramatically in the past 6 years. At the same time satisfaction with family life has declined slightly. What political ramifications do these attitudes have?


"The new data suggest the Chinese people may be struggling with the consequences of economic growth. Notably, concerns about inflation and environmental degradation are widespread. And while most Chinese embrace the free market, there is considerable concern about rising economic inequality in China today...

"While corruption is seen as a problem, most Chinese (65%) believe the government is doing a good job on issues that are most important to them. However, poorer Chinese and residents of the western and central provinces covered in the survey give the government somewhat lower grades than do citizens in eastern China...

"Overwhelmingly, the Chinese think their country is popular abroad - roughly three-in-four (77%) believe people in other countries generally have favorable opinions of China..."

If you'd like your students to analyze the whole report and hypothesize political implications of the attitudes, you can download the whole report from a link in the article.


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