Mainland Chinese People Research Articles

Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong: Coping with the Socio-Political Challenges of 2017 to 2020

Over the past two decades Hong Kong's higher education institutions have become favored destinations for students from Mainland China. They find Hong Kong society both familiar and strange. Though Chinese, its political history differs markedly from their homeland's. Since 2010, moreover, conflicts have arisen in Hong Kong between local and Mainland Chinese people, culminating between 2017 and 2020 with clashes over issues of autonomy and governance. This study investigates Mainland Chinese students’ experiences in Hong Kong during the 2017–2020 period, and the strategies they developed to cope with the pressures they faced. We found that coping strategies included: active approaches such as learning Cantonese and joining local student societies or campus activities; limiting their friendships to students from similar backgrounds; endurance and acceptance; and ‘letting nature take its course’. The study also shows weaknesses in university assistance for Mainland students, and has broader implications for student support and identity formation.

Biometric Risk Factors for Angle Closure Progression After Laser Peripheral Iridotomy

Laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) is the most common primary treatment for primary angle closure disease (PACD). However, there are sparse data guiding the longitudinal care of PAC suspect (PACS) eyes after LPI. To elucidate the anatomic effects of LPI that are associated with a protective outcome against progression from PACS to PAC and acute angle closure (AAC) and to identify biometric factors that predict progression after LPI. This was a retrospective analysis of data from the Zhongshan Angle Closure Prevention (ZAP) trial, a study of mainland Chinese people aged 50 to 70 years with bilateral PACS who received LPI in 1 randomly selected eye. Gonioscopy and anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) imaging were performed 2 weeks after LPI. Progression was defined as the development of PAC or an acute angle closure (AAC) attack. Cohort A included a random mix of treated and untreated eyes, and cohort B included only eyes treated with LPI. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were developed to assess biometric risk factors for progression in cohorts A and B. Data were analyzed from January 4 to December 22, 2022. Six-year progression to PAC or AAC. Cohort A included 878 eyes from 878 participants (mean [SD] age, 58.9 [5.0] years; 726 female [82.7%]) of whom 44 experienced progressive disease. In a multivariable analysis, treatment (hazard ratio [HR], 0.67; 95% CI, 0.34-1.33; P = .25) was no longer associated with progression after adjusting for age and trabecular iris space area at 500 μm (TISA at 500 μm) at the 2-week visit. Cohort B included 869 treated eyes from 869 participants (mean [SD] age, 58.9 [5.0] years; 717 female [82.5%]) of whom 19 experienced progressive disease. In multivariable analysis, TISA at 500 μm (HR, 1.33 per 0.01 mm2 smaller; 95% CI, 1.12-1.56; P = .001) and cumulative gonioscopy score (HR, 1.25 per grade smaller; 95% CI, 1.03-1.52; P = .02) at the 2-week visit were associated with progression. Persistent angle narrowing on AS-OCT (TISA at 500 μm ≤0.05 mm2; HR, 9.41; 95% CI, 3.39-26.08; P <.001) or gonioscopy (cumulative score ≤6; HR, 2.80; 95% CI, 1.13-6.93; P =.04) conferred higher risk of progression. Study results suggest that persistent angle narrowing detected by AS-OCT or cumulative gonioscopy score was predictive of disease progression in PACS eyes after LPI. These findings suggest that AS-OCT and gonioscopy may be performed to identify patients at high risk of developing angle closure who may benefit from closer monitoring despite patent LPI.

Autobiographical Memory and End-of-Life Treatment Preferences in China

In this mixed-methods study of religious/cultural beliefs and end-of-life treatment preferences in China, we surveyed 1,085 mainland Chinese people aged 18 or above online. We assessed the effects of past experience with dying people they have known and their own end-of-life treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness vignettes. We found that respondents who knew or visited someone at the end of their lives were somewhat less likely to choose aggressive treatment for themselves in a lung cancer scenario (25% compared to 33%, p=.013). However, there was less difference in an Alzheimer’s disease scenario, with a choice to use a gastric feeding tube or not (39% compared to 42%, p=.262). Open-ended responses indicate that people refer to these past experiences as a reference in making end-of-life decisions for themselves. This study provides empirical evidence that autobiographical memory has a directive function that individuals call on to inform future behaviors.

Struggling between national pride and personal empowerment: The language ideologies held by Chinese university students towards China English

The English used by Mainland Chinese people (henceforth ‘China English’) is inevitably influenced by L1 Chinese. This paper examines the attitudes held by Chinese university students towards China English, and explores the language ideologies leading for such attitudes. Following a discourse analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews, this paper finds that most participants held ambivalent attitudes towards China English. On the one hand, they considered China English an acceptable target for use by the Chinese population, and expressed favourable attitudes regarding its cultural features, lexical influences and the functional role for fulfilling communicative purposes. On the other hand, they regarded their own use of China English as linguistically inferior and embarrassing. The analysis suggests that these participants experienced a dilemma when strong senses of national pride and cultural identities met with a personal desire of obtaining socio-economic opportunities through the acquisition of American or British English competence.

THE MAN AT THE SELF-PAINTED WINDOW

This creative project is an autobiographical novel that tells the story of Hero Widjaja, a Chinese Indonesian man who embarks on his journey to Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China to find his true identity. Having raised in a pretty conservative Chinese Indonesian family background, Hero learns that there is an unfinished business in finding his identity as a Chinese Indonesian man. His parents unconsciously indoctrinate him to identify himself just like Mainland Chinese people. On the other hand, Hero surely does not have Chinese citizenship or even speak Mandarin. One morning, his father offers him a free trip to visit his relatives in Mainland China. Keeping the desire to find his true identity, Hero decides to take the trip and prove it himself whether he is eligible to regard himself as Chinese. I decide to use Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development to identify Hero’s identity crisis. This theory aims to help me create problems and believable characterization for my characters to represent the identity crisis that Chinese Indonesian people may have in real life. As for the genre, I decide to choose biographical novel as the genre of my creative work. I mix my personal family experiences as a Chinese Indonesian man with fictional elements so that I can still catch my readers’ attention from the beginning to the end.

Validation of the Empathy Quotient in Mainland China

ABSTRACTThis research aimed to validate a simplified Chinese version of the Empathy Quotient (EQ; 60 items) for use with Mainland Chinese people. The original English version of the EQ was translated into simplified Chinese. Through an online survey, 588 Mainland Chinese participants completed the EQ and 3 other questionnaires: the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS–20). Thirty-five participants completed retesting of the EQ 3 to 4 weeks later. Sex differences on the EQ scores and psychometric properties of the EQ items were examined. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that an EQ 15-item structural model fitted the data quite well. Self-report empathy, as assessed by the current simplified Chinese version of the EQ, appeared to relate to participants' autistic and alexithymic traits but not sex.

Pluralistic ignorance in Sino–Hong Kong conflicts: the perception of mainland Chinese people living in Hong Kong

This study examined pluralistic ignorance in the context of conflicts between Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese in Hong Kong. This focus differs from past studies, which have mainly explored in-group pluralistic ignorance regarding whether people could correctly perceive the opinions of others who belonged to the same social group as they did. The present study investigated whether people could correctly perceive the public opinion of a collective to which they did not belong. Using two representative samples of mainland Chinese students and local students from three universities in Hong Kong, this study found that mainland students overestimated the local public’s unfavorability regarding Chinese mainlanders and the Chinese government. This overestimation was found to be positively associated with their attention to media content about the Sino–Hong Kong relationship and the extent to which they perceived the pertinent media content to be biased toward Hong Kong but negatively associated with their interpersonal communications with Hong Kongers about issues regarding the Sino–Hong Kong relationship. The overestimation of the local public’s unfavorability of Chinese mainlanders and the Chinese government reduced the willingness of mainland students to stay in Hong Kong for further study, work, or domicile. Based on the findings of this study, further research on pluralistic ignorance is recommended in order to determine how migrants perceive the mainstream opinion in the society to which they migrate.

Analyzing the Mainland Chinese People’s Taiwan-Bound, Self-Guided Tours: Do They Provide a Window of Chance for the Development of Taiwanese Tourism Industry?

The greatest difference between “self-guided tours” for mainland Chinese in Taiwan, kicked off at June 2011, and the currently dominant “group-in, group-out” tourism model lies in the fact that the former dispenses with travel guides and thus allows Chinese tourists to freely choose their desired itineraries and accommodations, which in turn breaks the monopoly of a few service providers in the mainlanders-reliant tourism market. By way of interviewing and literature review, this study’s author attempted to summarize the positive and unknown effects of Taiwan’s policy concerning the deregulation of mainlanders’ self-guided tours. The last part of this study offers government authorities some policy-oriented recommendations in this regard.

Choledochoduodenal fistula in Mainland China: a review of epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis and management.

PurposeCholedochoduodenal fistula (CDF) is an extremely rare condition even in the most populous nations. However, diagnostic tools are inadequate for the young surgeon to be made aware of such a rare condition before surgery. Hence, basic understanding of the epidemiology, etiology, and management for this unusual but discoverable condition are necessary and essential.MethodsThe exclusive case reports of CDF, which were published from 1983 to 2014 concerning mainland Chinese people, were performed to review the epidemiology, etiology, and management.ResultsA total of 728 cases were incorporated into this review among 48 papers. More than half of the CDF cases were female (416) with an average age of 57.3 years. CDF was usually caused by cholelithiasis (573 of 728). Epigastric pain (589 of 728) and cholangitis (395 of 728) were the most common symptoms of CDF. CDF was usually detected and confirmed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) (475 of 728) in Mainland China. The fistulas larger than 1 cm (82 of 654) were recommended for surgical biliary reconstruction. Fistulas between 0.5 cm and 1.0 cm (467 of 654) which were followed frequently by cholangitis attacks also required surgery; the rest were recommended to have stone removal and/or the application of an effective biliary drainage. Fistulas less than 0.5 cm (105 of 654) were usually received conservative therapy.ConclusionCDF should be considered in differential diagnosis of recurrent epigastric pain and cholangitis. A possible ERCP should be arranged to investigate carefully. Depending on the size of fistula and clinical presentation, different programs for CDF are indicated, ranging from drug therapy to choledochojejunostomy.

Impact of Jin‐Shang teachings on Chinese people's trust

Three studies are reported that explore the impact of Jin‐Shang teachings (a specialized Confucius teaching of trust on business practices) on mainland Chinese people's trust. In Study 1, we primed Confucius and Jin‐Shang teachings on trust, and compared their effects on trusting tendency to a control prime. We found that these teachings made mainland Chinese participants score higher on three different trusting scales. In Study 2, we found that the Jin‐Shang prime made mainland Chinese participants invest more money in a trust game than those in the control prime. In Study 3, we compared the Jin‐Shang prime to Protestant teachings and contemporary writings on reciprocity, and found that only the Jin‐Shang prime induced a significantly higher trusting tendency from Chinese participants than the control condition.

Does “face” constrain Mainland Chinese people from starting new leisure activities?

The purpose of this article was to examine why Mainland Chinese people felt constrained from starting new leisure activities generally and to determine what role the Chinese concept of “face” had on this behaviour in particular. Face is concerned with favourable social self-worth and is composed of two types: self- and other-face. The prospect of losing face is a key factor in understanding Chinese people's interpersonal behaviour. Data were collected using an on-site questionnaire and convenience sampling in three cities in China (n = 195). Results indicated that (a) although interpersonal and structural constraints most inhibited starting a new leisure activity, Chinese people varied in terms of self- and other-face's constraining effect; (b) both types of face were more constraining for less-educated Chinese people; and (c) self- and other-face are new types of intrapersonal constraint.

Chinese Tourists and Confucianism

Despite the widespread belief in the significance of Confucianism on the behaviour of Mainland Chinese people, limited empirical studies have been conducted to examine the Chinese cultural and philosophical ideology in a tourism context. As an exploratory attempt, this paper investigates the influence of Confucian values on Mainland Chinese corporate travellers at leisure on the Gold Coast, Australia. Based on participant observations of group package tours, this paper suggests that the notion of harmony dominates and underlines the Chinese tourists’ behaviour as tourists. The notion of harmony, further, was intricately related with such themes as respect for authority, relationship building or guanxi and conformity. Heavily influenced by the values of Confucianism, the travellers placed much emphasis on maintaining not only the correct and appropriate behaviour, which included paying due respect to one's superior, but also practising forbearance conforming to the interests of a wider group rather than individual desires. Relationship building appears to be a salient motivation, underlying the behaviour of the tourists. Confirming the suggestions from other disciplinary fields, such as Chinese psychology and social psychology, this paper highlights the need for more research attempts in this area for practical and theoretical advancements in our understanding.

Mainland Chinese Family Caregiver Narratives in Mental Illness: Disruption and Continuity

This study employs a phenomenological hermeneutic approach to analyse narratives written by mainland Chinese people who care for a family member with serious mental illness. Locating culture at the centre of the analysis, the study explicates and explores the salient themes and subthemes in texts that were originally published in a monthly psychoeducational newsletter. Analysis reveals that mental illness constitutes a catastrophic and disruptive event for the caregivers, for the most part women, and their families. Caregivers are driven by intersecting cultural and state-propagated discourses to exert heroic effort and commitment in order to ensure a full “recovery” for the ill family member. In light of the intense stigma surrounding mental illness in Chinese culture, the family member's condition is actively concealed by caregivers. This is to protect healthy family members as much as the ill person. The study concludes that cultural phenomena inform both the sense of disruption experienced by mainland Chinese family caregivers in mental illness and the sense of continuity in their fulfilling of socioculturally prescribed roles.

Portrayal of Mainland Chinese People in Hong Kong-Produced Movies: Implications for 1997

Portrayal of Mainland Chinese People in Hong Kong-Produced Movies: Implications for 1997