Mainland Chinese Research Articles

“Get Rich and Get Going”: Understanding Chinese Lifestyle Migrants to Western Countries

There is a tendency in migration studies to categorize all voluntary migrants without economic incentives as lifestyle migrants. As members of the Chinese middle class migrated to Western countries over the past two decades, after accumulating wealth in their homeland, they, too, were easily subsumed into the category of lifestyle migrants. This study argues that contemporary wealthy Chinese migrants cannot simply be classified as lifestyle migrants since affluent Chinese mainlanders are motivated to move abroad due to concerns about domestic political issues, aspirations for better education, social and natural environments, and a relatively more autonomous lifestyle in the West. The study employs sixty semi-structured interviews with affluent mainland Chinese migrants to Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States since 2000. It contributes to the broader discussion of the classifications of wealthy migrants from rising global economic powers by suggesting that no single classification or category fully captures the complexities of their motivations and evolving characteristics. The findings also facilitate a deeper understanding of the complex migration phenomena involving wealthy individuals from rising global economic powers, which have so far received limited attention in the literature.

Is Chinese IR Scholarship White? A Non-Dichotomous Critique of ‘The International as Singular, Enlightened and Sanitised’

Most Western IR theories – mainstream and critical alike – share an implicit Western-centric belief of the constitution and drivers for global development (towards modernity), whereas an emerging trend of literature criticizes such an assumption as epistemic whiteness. Examining global IR knowledge production beyond the Euro-American academia, this article proposes a non-dichotomous framework of critique. It centres around three interrelated conceptual modes of dichotomy, linearity and denialism, which correspond to three epistemological markers as the logics of existence, development and resistance. Mainland Chinese Sinophone International Relations (IR) scholarship on Sino-African relations is examined against this framework. The analysis demonstrates that, under the heavy influence of modernist worldviews, Sino-centric versions of dichotomy, linearity and denialism can be reproduced among academic works that are intentionally produced to resist epistemic whiteness. This poses critical questions on the applicability of epistemic whiteness as a term to capture the full dynamics. This article thus proposes an alternative term, the international as singular, enlightened and sanitized, to represent this problematic ontological imagination of the international. It calls for global IR scholars to exercise greater reflexivity towards an unproblematic acceptance and internalized appreciation of modernity as the endgame of history.

Resilience in Chinese Spouses of Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Longitudinal Exploration.

In China, spouses of patients with advanced cancer have reported experiencing psychological distress. However, little attention has been paid to the positive psychological health trajectories of these caregivers, particularly regarding their resilience and the factors influencing its development over time. To examine the trajectories of resilience in Chinese spousal caregivers over a nine-month post-treatment period and to identify the basic characteristics associated with these trajectory patterns. This was a longitudinal, observational study conducted in mainland Chinese between January 2022 and May 2024. A total of 306 spouses of patients receiving cancer treatment were recruited from five local hospitals. Data was collected in four waves: within one month of initial treatment, and then at three-, six-, and nine-month intervals post-treatment. Socio-demographic questionnaires, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Beliefs in Chinese Familism Scale were used to collect data. Growth mixture modeling was employed to determine the various trajectories of resilience, followed by logistic regression analysis to examine the associated factors to predict types of trajectories. Growth mixture modeling showed two distinct trajectories of resilience were identified: an increased group (N = 78, 25.5%) and a stable group (N = 228, 74.5%). The increased group began with a low baseline level (intercept = 46.713) and showed a slight increase over time (slope = 7.505, p < 0.001), while the stable group had a moderate baseline level (intercept = 56.565) and remained stable over time (slope = 0.068, p > 0.05). Those in the stable group were more likely to be female, and to have achieved a middle school level of education, a lower family income, and greater Chinese familism at baseline than those in the increased group. Our findings underscore the importance of tracking the trajectories of resilience and predictors of trajectory patterns among spouses caring for patients with advanced cancer within a specific cultural context. Healthcare providers should provide tailored interventions to enhance resilience in spousal caregivers, considering the trajectory patterns of mental health change.

Perceived discrimination and psychological distress among Mainland Chinese immigrant women in Hong Kong: The indirect effects of tolerance of uncertainty and common dyadic coping.

By studying Mainland Chinese immigrant women who married Hong Kong men, this study examined the association between their perceived discrimination and psychological distress after the 2019-2020 social movement in Hong Kong. Additionally, this study examined the indirect effects of individual coping strategies (tolerance of uncertainty) and couples' coping strategies (common dyadic coping), guided by the cultural and developmental psychopathology framework. Ninety-nine Mainland Chinese immigrant women who married Hong Kong men participated in this cross-sectional survey. We found a positive association between perceived discrimination and psychological distress (r = .50, p < .01). Reduced uncertainty tolerance and low levels of common dyadic coping both showed indirect effects on the discrimination-psychological distress association. Tolerance of uncertainty had a larger indirect effect than common dyadic coping. Focusing on the psychological adjustment of immigrant women facing discrimination, our findings underscore the importance of preserving individual- and couple-level resources. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Positioning gender in time-travel: time-travel TV dramas as dialogic resources for constructing and re-imagining identity among Mainland Chinese postgraduates in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Time-travel television dramas have recently gained tremendous popularity worldwide. Defying stereotypes of romance TV dramas as women’s genres, time-travel romance TV drama genres seem to have attracted young men and women of different walks of life. Informed by positioning theory and Bakhtin’s heteroglossic dialogism, this study investigates a group of bilingual Mainland Chinese, heterosexual postgraduate students’ consumption of a Chinese time-travel TV drama, Scarlet Heart. It is found that well-educated Mainland Chinese women and men are still confronted with dilemmas of gender role boundaries and pressure to subscribe to traditional gender values. However, the time-travel TV drama has enabled the interviewees to negotiate new gender relations when they assign different positions to the female protagonist and themselves in the discussion. It is therefore proposed that time-travel TV dramas can be appropriated as dialogic resources for ideological becoming and critical literacy activities for facilitating construction of alternative subject positions and identities.

Interdependency or submission to authority? The impacts of horizontal and vertical collectivist orientation on vaccine attitudes in mainland China.

Culture has a profound impact on preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research has revealed that collectivism is associated with more effective responses to COVID-19 on the national or regional level. However, the impact of different components of collectivist orientation on vaccine attitudes remains insufficiently explored on the individual level. Two survey studies conducted in August 2021 in mainland China consistently found that individual-level horizontal collectivist orientation, rather than vertical collectivist orientation, was linked with more favourable vaccine attitudes. Specifically, Study 1 (N = 731) indicated that horizontal collectivist orientation was positive associated with vaccination intention indirectly via risk perception, and horizontal collectivist orientation was also positively associated with vaccination persuasion both directly and indirectly via risk perception. Study 2 (N = 1481), employing multilevel modelling, demonstrated that the link between horizontal collectivist orientation and confidence in vaccines remained robust regardless of provincial-level variations in socioeconomic development and cultural tightness. These findings convergently suggest that the positive vaccine attitudes among mainland Chinese are primarily driven by an amplified risk perception due to concern for others, rather than submission to authority.

Religious Minorities in the 2019 Hong Kong Protests

Based on a broader ethnographic study with Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh residents of Hong Kong, this article examines the role of minority religions, specifically Islam, in the 2019 Hong Kong protests. While the protests were dominated by the debates over the identities of Hong Kongers versus mainland Chinese, they also produced discussions over the positions and experiences of Hong Kong's “ethnic minorities,” many of whom are religious minorities. Often racialized and seen as outsiders by Han Hong Kongers, ethnoreligious minorities were reluctant to take sides out of worry for their livelihoods and fear of further marginalization. This sharply contrasts with the visibility of Christian communities in the protests. Christian leaders were publicly involved in prayer meetings and other forms of support for the protests, while the followers of minority religions either stayed away or organized prayer sessions in small, private settings. However, around October 2019, after a series of events described in this article, minorities either found themselves drawn into the protests or took the opportunity to participate to claim their Hong Konger identity. This held the potential to expand the political discourse and create a unified multicultural, multiracial identity of Hong Kongers. However, such aspirations were crushed against the walls of cultural-religious representation, and minorities felt that they remained misunderstood and unacknowledged as fellow citizens.

A study on the identity of mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong universities based on grounded theory

ABSTRACT Since Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, a growing number of Mainland Chinese students (MLC students) have chosen to pursue higher education in Hong Kong. This trend raises questions about how MLC students establish and identify with their identity during their stay in Hong Kong. The issue of identity construction among MLC students within Hong Kong’s hybridised cultural context warrants specific attention. This study, employing a qualitative research method grounded in Grounded Theory, conducted in-depth interviews with 30 selected Mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong. By establishing a model of personal identity for MLC students, the research reveals that these students consistently identify themselves as Chinese mainlanders throughout their stay in Hong Kong. The construction of their identity is shaped by interactions between personal conflicts, environmental conflicts, personal reconciliation factors, environmental reconciliation factors, and policy promotion factors.

Segmenting Chinese wine consumers on the basis of wine knowledge and consumption behavior

Purpose This study aims to provide insights into wine consumers in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the diversity of their behavior, by investigating their motivations, consumption and purchasing behavior and segmenting the sample based on wine knowledge and frequency of consumption to identify three distinct clusters that are then profiled. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected through an online survey of wine consumers of ethnic Chinese origin residing in Mainland China and Hong Kong, using two methods of recruitment (a convenience sample from wine-related databases, a panel survey undertaken by an international market research firm). The final sample comprised 477 respondents, about equally divided among Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. Analysis of the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS) 29 included a series of descriptive analyses, followed by a two-step cluster analysis using an Euclidean distance method. Findings Wine knowledge and frequency of wine consumption were relatively higher within the sample as a whole than previous studies, but three distinct consumer segments are evident. There is evidence of a democratization of wine consumption, and a greater focus on wine consumption for enjoyment in relaxed and informal settings. rather than consumption driven by health and status, occurring primarily in commercial or business settings. The dominance of red wine in this market is also declining, and intrinsic cues – specifically, prior experience of the wine – are becoming important in wine purchase decisions. Originality/value This study uses a broad sample of wine consumers to identify trends in wine consumption patterns and motivations, and purchase decision-making behavior, of Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. The identification of three clusters of wine consumers offers both points of comparison with previous segmentation research globally and within China, whilst also identifying scope for further research.

Opportunities, challenges and implications of medical tourism development in Hong Kong

AbstractThis study revealed two different sets of push and pull factors affecting the medical travel decision process of two groups of mainland Chinese to Hong Kong, including potential and experienced medical tourists. The relations between identified factors and their willingness of personal visit and recommendation were also investigated. Regarding the recommendation intention, interpersonal acquisition and personal needs satisfaction are mostly considered by travelers in psychological level while recognized high medical reception capacity and quality are also prioritized in the pull aspect. However, local medical service constraints, perceived quality of medical experience shaped by healthcare suppliers, and destination attributes determine the two groups' responses to personal visit intention. Besides, the advantages of developing medical tourism in Hong Kong are implicated as can‐be‐perceived unique cultural attribute, mass tourism fame as medical tourism development basis, and reputation for high‐quality care formed with unintentional or deliberate promotion from third parties and various marketing channels.

Intergroup Identity Conflict in Tourism: The Voice of the Tourist

Over the last decade, political tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China over the territory’s status, culminating with the 2019/20 pro-democracy demonstrations, spilled over into tourism, with rising antagonism among “HongKongers” toward Chinese tourists. Central to these strained relationships are complex identity tensions that position HongKongers as distinct from mainland Chinese, despite being essentially “compatriots.” The sense of belonging to a social group is derived from the interactions that distinguish “us” from “others,” whilst the Chinese have been signified as “others” in this scenario, their perspectives on the issue are poorly understood. This study utilizes social identity theory to unpack these identity positions. Our results uncover changes in Chinese tourists’ reflections on perceived othering they experienced by HongKongers and how identity plays a significant role in redefining relationships between hosts and guests.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Stock Market Contagion Between the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong

This study utilizes stock market data from March 2020 to December 2022, employing VAR models and Granger causality models to investigate the daily returns and contagion effect of the CSI 300 and the HSI in Hong Kong. Based on this, the analysis explores the impact of the pandemic on the contagion effect between the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets. The research findings indicate that during the pandemic period, there exists a unidirectional Granger causality relationship from the Hong Kong stock market to the mainland Chinese stock market. The pandemic has intensified the connection between mainland China and Hong Kong, significantly increasing their mutual influence. The overall trends of the two stock markets are consistent, with the mainland Chinese market exhibiting smoother fluctuations during this period.

Mainland Chinese students’ psychological adaptation to Hong Kong: an intergroup communication perspective

ABSTRACT Mainland Chinese students (MCSs) represent the largest non-local student group in Hong Kong and their adaptation experiences require more research attention than exists. This study investigates MCSs’ psychological adaptation to Hong Kong with a language and social psychological approach by invoking Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) and Willingness to Communicate in a Second Language (L2 WTC). Survey results were collected from 372 MCSs studying in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling yielded an empirical model that describes the relations between MCSs’ perceived Cantonese competence, Cantonese use anxiety, Cantonese confidence, WTC with locals in Cantonese (Cantonese WTC), accommodative encounters and contact with locals, acculturative stress, and psychological adaptation. The model highlights the focal role of MCSs’ frequency of accommodative encounters with locals and Cantonese use anxiety in their Cantonese WTC, which underscores the situational factors (i.e. an accommodative conversational partner) in an individual’s L2 WTC. This study offers valuable insights into MCSs’ adaptation to Hong Kong from an intergroup communication perspective and provides novel theoretical contributions by empirically examining the transferability of L2 WTC to an eastern cultural context and to languages other than English as well as the simultaneous application of CAT and L2 WTC to better account for intergroup communication.

Differential item functioning for the Tendency of Avoiding Physical Activity and Sport Scale across two subculture samples: Taiwanese and mainland Chinese university students

AimsThe aims of the study were to examine the differential item functioning (DIF) of the Tendency of Avoiding Physical Activity and Sport Scale (TAPAS) among three subgroups (gender, weight status, and region) and to test the construct and concurrent validities of the scale. MethodsUsing an online survey, university students (608 Taiwanese and 2319 mainland Chinese) completed the TAPAS. Rasch analysis examined if all the 10 TAPAS items fitted the same construct and displayed no substantial DIF across three subgroups: gender (male vs. female), weight status (overweight vs. non-overweight), and region (Taiwan vs. China). Concurrent validity was examined using the scores on the Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire (WSSQ) and Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS). ResultsAll TAPAS items, except for Item 10 (“Prefer to participate in physical activity in a more private setting”), fitted the same construct. None of the TAPAS items displayed DIF in any of the subgroups except for Item 10 across participants from Taiwan and China (DIF contrast = −1.41). ConclusionThe TAPAS can appropriately assess the tendency to avoid physical activity and sport among both Taiwanese and mainland Chinese university students. However, Item 10 may need to be further examined.

Identity dilemmas of an English language teacher: negotiating tensions underpinning transformations in the language profile of a primary school in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This paper studies the identity dilemmas of a teacher negotiating the tensions underpinning the transformations in the language profile of a Hong Kong primary school. Using a rigorous triangulation of written journals and in-depth interviews, the study reconstructs a case narrative personified as “Lily”, an English language teacher at “Lexis Elementary”, a school that previously struggled with low student enrolments. As a solution, the school now enrols students from Mainland China, where the spoken language is Mandarin rather than Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong. Resulting tensions arose because of transformations in the school’s language profile. Lily constructs the language terrain she negotiates in her interactions with cross-border Mainland Chinese and local Hong Kong parents and students, and her responses to interactions among students. This paper provides original conceptual tools to explain complex “born-again” sentiments that trigger people to act in reverse against the stipulated conditions of the powerful. The concept of “born-again reversals” connects to global literature on resistance against “language learning for economic benefits”. Insights from this study reconcile theoretical debates on using economic power as soft power, providing teachers with the conceptual tools to understand the identity dilemmas they experience with language planning initiatives worldwide.

Unraveling Chinese talk about emotion.

Research in cross-cultural psychiatry has asserted that Chinese people have a higher tendency to report somatic symptoms of their psychological distress than people with a European ethnic background. However, recent studies have reached inconsistent conclusions and most have confounded language use with culture in their study designs. Focusing on the varying degrees of orientation to Chinese culture, the present study examined the words freely listed by two Chinese groups of university students (mainland Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese) when describing their illness experience. Words were categorized into somatic, emotion, and somatic-emotion clusters. Overall, the Chinese participants were more willing to talk about their emotions than their somatic symptoms in an anonymous survey. The enculturated mainland Chinese participants-who reported greater Chinese cultural identity-used significantly more emotion words but fewer somatic-emotion words than the Hong Kong Chinese participants. No group differences were found in somatic words. In contrast to previous findings, the current study failed to find support for the relationship between orientation to Chinese culture and somatic symptom reporting when controlling for language use.

How China's Great Bay Area Policies Affect the National Identity of Hong Kong Youth-A Study of a Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Difference-in-Differences Model.

China's Bay Area policies are important for integrating Hong Kong (HK) and Macao youth into China's overall development. However, their effect on national identity is still mostly theoretical, lacking objective and scientific empirical evaluations. From a cultural adaptation perspective, interactions between social groups with different cultural backgrounds can promote cultural and political identity transformation. Therefore, guided by China's Bay Area policies, which encourage various cross-border exchanges via economic cooperation, HK youth can keep in touch with such Mainland Chinese cultural values as "responsible government", facilitating "political socialization", and political-cultural adaptation, helping to promote their psychological inclusion into society, contributing to a positive attitude towards the mainland government, and achieving the policy effect of building national identity. A quasi-natural experiment based on the regional differences in the first stages of China's Bay Area policies can help to evaluate their effects on HK youth's national identity. This study defines the initial stage of the Bay Area policy implementation as from 2016, when the 13th Five-Year Plan advocated building the "Great Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao", to 2019, when the Outline was published. The policies issued at this stage were the so-called "early policies". Due to data limitations, it is difficult to obtain post-2019 survey data; therefore, the study mainly focuses on the policy effects at the beginning of the Bay Area's construction. Four groups of cross-sectional data from the World Value Survey 6 (WVS6) (2010-2014) and World Value Survey 7 (WVS7) (2017-2020), with HK and the mainland (the non-Guangdong region) included, are used to examine the policy effect under the Difference-in-Differences (DID) Model. The research shows that the policies significantly enhanced HK youth's national identity, and their trust in the mainland government played an intermediary role in the policy effect mechanism. However, the effect was uneven, benefiting the national identities of HK youth working in the for-profit private sector more than their unemployed or public sector peers. Therefore, this research proposes several policy implications to facilitate policy decision making related to youth in China's Bay Area.

Where can I travel to? The difference in support for COVID-19 travel restrictions between Chinese Xiamen islanders and mainlanders

ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that there are vast cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward COVID-19 travel restrictions. Yet, pinpointing the specific role of any single factor in explaining cross-cultural variability is difficult when comparing cultural communities that differ along myriad dimensions. Taking a ‘just minimal difference’ approach that removes the effects of extraneous variables, the present research focuses on how islandness can account for variability in travel intentions during the pandemic. Combining retrospective self-report assessment with a dynamic behavioural choice regarding travel intention during COVID-19, the present research examined travel attitudes and behaviours in Chinese Xiamen islanders and mainlanders that share the same geographic environment, language, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, but vary in their implicit individualism. Results across two studies revealed that Chinese Xiamen islanders were less supportive of travel and mobility restrictions than mainlanders who all lived near the coast. Additionally, it was found that implicit individualism mediated the link between islandness and travel attitudes. Together, this paper not only presents the first empirical evidence for the role of geographic environment in the emergence of attitudes toward restrictive travel limitations, but potentially informs tourism management and revival in the era of COVID-19.

Critical Analysis and Cross-Comparison Between English and Chinese Websites Providing Online Medical Information for Patients With Adenoid Hypertrophy: Cross-sectional Study.

In the information era, patients can easily be misled by inaccurate internet content, thus making not well-informed decisions about medical issues. Adenoid hypertrophy, one of the most common causes of chronic upper airway obstruction in children and adolescents, may lead to serious complications, including sleep apnea and craniofacial change. There have been no critical studies about the quality of websites on adenoid hypertrophy, posing a challenge for users without a medical background to determine which website offers more reliable information. Moreover, the blockage of access to internet search tools such as Google, Yahoo, and others has created an isolated internet environment for the enormous user population in mainland China. Differences in internet legislation, the commercial environment, and culture are also likely to result in varied quality of online health information inside and outside mainland China. To date, no study has compared the quality difference between mainland Chinese and English websites. The aims of this study were to (1) analyze the quality of websites about adenoid hypertrophy accessible by patients, (2) investigate the quality differences between Chinese and English websites, (3) determine which type of website (eg, government-sponsored, health care provider) is more reliable in terms of medical information, and (4) determine whether the blockage of foreign websites is hindering users' accessibility to better-quality websites in mainland China. The first 100 websites (excluding advertisements) displayed on the top three search engines worldwide and in mainland China for the key search term "enlarged adenoids" were collected as the data source. The websites were evaluated based on accessibility, accountability, interactivity, structure, and content quality (accuracy, content coverage, and objectivity). Cohen κ was calculated, and one-way ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test were performed to compare the results between groups and subgroups. The mean score for the content quality of English websites was significantly higher than that of Chinese websites (6.16 vs 4.94, P=.03 for Google, Bing, and Yahoo; 6.16 vs 4.16, P<.001 for Baidu, Sougou, and Bing China). Chinese users who are not influenced by the Internet Censorship System are more likely to access higher-quality online medical information (4.94 vs 4.16, P=.02). In within-group Student-Newman-Keuls q posthoc analysis, professional organization and government-sponsored websites were generally of better quality than other websites for both Chinese and English websites (P<.05). Generally, the English websites on adenoid hypertrophy are of better quality than Chinese websites; thus, Chinese users residing outside of the Chinese mainland are less influenced by inaccurate online medical information.

Differential attitudes and outcomes of endodontics education between mainland and non-mainland chinese students during COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has changed the learning style and campus life of dental students. This study aimed to evaluate the learning attitudes and outcomes of endodontics among mainland Chinese students and non-mainland Chinese students (students from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) during the pandemic.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in November 2022 at the School of Stomatology, Jinan University, utilizing a self-report online questionnaire, including demographic characteristics and attitudes toward the endodontic course and the COVID-19 pandemic. The endodontics scores were collected from recruited students for further analysis. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 software, with independent two-sample t-tests to compare continuous variables and chi-square tests for categorical variables.ResultsA total of 215 dental students completed the survey, with 126 (58.6%) of them being non-mainland Chinese students. Compared to mainland Chinese students, non-mainland Chinese students had lower scores in both theoretical (63.6 ± 13.5 vs. 83.2 ± 8.00) and skill (88.4 ± 5.38 vs. 90.0 ± 4.91) endodontic assessments. Non-mainland Chinese students reported significantly greater impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their learning emotions, personal hygiene, and future career choices compared to mainland Chinese students.ConclusionsNon-mainland Chinese students had poorer academic performance in endodontics and experienced a greater impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of their studies and lives. Dental educators should consider the diversity of students and take necessary measures to support their mental health and enhance learning outcomes in the post-COVID-19 era.