Chinese Urban Youth’s Perception

toward EU

Chinese Urban Youth’s Perception

toward EU

Speaker: Changjian Jiang Aug. 21rd , 2008

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Nanjing

Shanghai

Guangzhou

Peking

Qingdao

WuhanChengdu

Kunming

Shenyang

Xi’an

Research Area

This project adopts the multi-stage random sampling method. After considering

the particular characteristics of the respondents, the pool is divided into two

groups: the college students group and general residents group, according to

group quota .

In fieldwork, the sample size will be enlarged by 10%, according to convention,

yielding 4303 samples .

Sampling method and sample size

College students

150 per city

1500 in total

Covers varies colleges including the central committee school, local college, and voluntary colleges, chooses degree and subjects according to the sample quota

General residents

250 per city

2500 in totalRespondents’ ages are in homogeneous

distribution

Respondents with age between 18-29；

Respondents should have no work experience in any

investigation organization or market research department

in investigation company, AD company or AD plan

department in any organization, neither do their relatives

and close friends

Investigation execution adopts the way of indoor face to

face interview, and generally 20 min. per interview.

Investigation respondents and methodology

Introduction about the grouping

full-time college student groupCollege students

White collar senior and ordinary office workers as well as professionals in varies organizations and companies

Blue collar Labor workers and service workers in various organizations and companies

others Housewives, unemployment and other ordinarily residents

Self-employed

Individual household and other self-employed people

MethodologyMethodology

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Urban youth have a comparatively higher Urban youth have a comparatively higher comprehensioncomprehension of EU, of EU, where the least familiar part is the “where the least familiar part is the “Schengen Agreement”Schengen Agreement”

The average number of questions right answered by respondents is 3.78. And 3.1% of all respondents (high comprehension degree group) gave right answers to all questions.

White collars constructs the largest

part(64.3%) of the high

comprehension degree group, much

higher than college students

(15.2%) and blue collars (15.6%).

Shanghai youth takes up 13.1% of

high comprehension degree group,

far higher than that of other

cities(Beijing only 0.8%).

Figure: Basic comprehension about EU

23.4

24.7

40.0

43.8

57.4

59.6

60.0

69.5

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

“SchengenAgreement ”

Countries excludedfrom Schengen Zone

City of EUheadquater

English Ab. OfEuropean Union

Which EU countrydoes not use Euro

Which country is nota member of EU

Exchange rate of EUto RMB

EU flag

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The importance of EU to China is only second to US, over 40% urban The importance of EU to China is only second to US, over 40% urban youths show positive attitude towards Sino-EU youths show positive attitude towards Sino-EU bilateral relationshipbilateral relationship

Figure: Evaluation on the Sino-EU bilateral relationship Figure: Sino-EU bilateral relationship evaluation by different comprehension group

Figure: Evaluation on Sino-EU economic

Note: five grade scale, 5 score means definitely positive, 1 means absolutely negative

37.0 43.8 43.6

51.9 37.1 37.5

7.415.1 14.8

High

Refuse/not clear

BAD

Neutral

GOOD

24.412.6 12.9

65.0

68.6 68.4

4.711.4 11.1 Refuse/not clear

EU depends on China more

EU and China depends on each other

China depends on EU more

Low Total

High Low Total

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High comprehension degree group affirmatively agree with the impact High comprehension degree group affirmatively agree with the impact EU EU expansion expansion on the whole world, yet they are worried about EU’s impact on Chinaon the whole world, yet they are worried about EU’s impact on China

Figure: EU Expansion’s impact on China

Figure: EU expansion’s impact on politicalPolarization and  Democratization

Figure: Groups with different attitudes towards EU expansion show their opinions on EU’s impact on China

30.5

9.2

7.6

52.7

Threat more than opportunity

Not clear

Don’t care

Opportunity more than threat

29.7

9.2

7.6

53.4

24.9

9.3

11.4

54.4

Total

Negative

Not clear

No influence

Positive

52.7

8.5

8.7

30.1

8.5

5.6

8.1

77.8

High comprehensive

degree

25.4

9.4

11.6

53.6

Low comprehensive

degree

TotalHigh

comprehensive degree

Low comprehensive

degree

52.759.7

49.7 45.1

29.2

30.5

31.744.4

10.8

10.3

30.3

12.7

total positive negative no influence not clear

Opportunity more than threat threat more than opportunity

don't care not clear

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Note: As it is a multiple-choice question, the sum of the options’ percentages exceeds 100%.

Figure: Most focused 3 counties in EU 27 counties Figure: Main information channel to know about EU

Figure: Channel to collect further information about EU

Note: As it is a multiple-choice question, the sum of the options’ percentages exceeds 100%.

UK, France and Germany receive the greatest focus, and interpersonal UK, France and Germany receive the greatest focus, and interpersonal communication is the most reliable channel for the high comprehension group to communication is the most reliable channel for the high comprehension group to get informationget information

10

10.2

10.3

16.5

16.6

21.3

28.1

32.1

45.1

49.6

Spain

Denmark

Finland

Greece

theNetherlands

Sweden

Italy

Germany

France

UK

52.863.1 58.2

8.514.6

3.911.2 8.2 4.5

15.20.4 3.1

New

spap

er TV

Inte

rnet

Bro

adca

st

Mag

zin

e

Tex

tbo

ok

Mo

vie

Bo

ok

Lit

eral

wo

rks

frie

nd

s re

lati

ves

'

intr

od

uce

oth

er

no

t cl

ear

High comprehension degree

Low comprehension degree

TOTAL

1.26.8

18.424.1

5.4

44

Kinds of media books travel study abroad via Europeanfriends

not clear

High comprehension degreeLow comprehension degreeTotal

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Urban youth use more French products than any other groupsUrban youth use more French products than any other groups

Note: As it is a multiple-choice question, the sum of the options’ percentages exceeds 100%.

College students and white collar are the two groups with the highest percentage of consuming French products, 37.4% and 36.8% respectively.

Female consume more French products than male. (37.9% for female and 30.2% for male)

With an increasing income, more urban youth consume French products. （ low income 29.6% ， middle 36.5% ， high income 41.3%）

2.83.2

6.87.38.3

14.7

21.2

26.9

34.1

7.8

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

BelgiumAustriaFinlandHollandSwedenDenmarkItalyGermanyUKFrance

Figure: Consumed products from EU 27 counties

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ConclusionsConclusions

Chinese urban youth have comparatively sound comprehension on basic information of the European

Union. They highly evaluate the bilateral Sino-EU relationship and positively perceive EU expansion,

from which most young people predict more opportunity than threat. More and more, Chinese youth are

willing to know more about EU, and media and travel are the most common information channels.

Among the 27 EU member countries, Chinese youth place great concern in France, second only to the

UK. Even though the popularity of France in China recently dropped dramatically, along with the

friendliness degree of the French to the Chinese, people still positively evaluate the importance of the

Sino-France bilateral relationship and strategic cooperative partnership. It seems that the Chinese urban

youth’s perception of the Sino-France relationship has not been very negatively influenced. On the

contrary, major parts of them express optimistic expectations and affirmative attitudes towards keeping

sound the Sino-France relationship. Furthermore, they suggest that economic and trade cooperation

could be developed as important areas of cooperation for both China and France.

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