The Chinese Image Today--A Survey

Sunny Hsiao　/　photos Sue Lee　/　tr. by Peter Eberly

January 1986

中文

Loyalty and filial piety, the large characters written on the left, are traditional virtues still valued by Chinese today.

What image do people have of the Chinese? Do foreigners have misconceptions? Are their perceptions important? Who best represents today's Chinese?

Asking these and other questions, Sinorama recently polled 100 Chinese people living in the Taipei area (46 men and 54 women; 36 percent in their thirties) and 80 foreigners, also in Taipei, from 17 countries (52 men and 28 women; 87.5 percent in their twenties) to find out their opinions.

In our survey of foreigners, we found that their impressions of Chinese before and after coming to Taiwan were about the same. If there was a change, it was "a gradual change due to daily contacts with Chinese" (87.2 percent). Only a small portion (8.5 percent) had changed their impressions because of a particular incident, such as the collapse of the Tenth Credit Cooperative.

Before coming to Taiwan, the foreigners' understanding of the Chinese people came mostly from Chinese students studying abroad, overseas Chinese, friends who had visited here, periodicals, textbooks, or their Chinese language teachers. China, to the foreigners, was mysterious, ancient, complex, and difficult to understand.

Since coming here, the foreigners characterize the typical Chinese personality as "diligent," "honest," "warm and lively," "hospitable," "willing to take on challenges," "family-oriented," and "self centered." In getting along with other people, Chinese are "friendly," "cordial," "happy to help," "respecters of tradition," and "polite and courteous." But a number of foreigners also think Chinese are "too eager to Westernize" and "sometimes impolite to strangers."

As to lifestyle, paying attention to food is a major characteristic of the Chinese. Messiness and minding other people's business also make up some foreigners' conceptions of the Chinese. For Westerners, who cherish their privacy, the gossiping housewife is the hardest personality to fathom here.

In the foreigners' descriptions of Chinese, positive adjective (114) figured almost three times as frequently as negative ones (41). The fact that the interviewers were themselves Chinese may have influenced the results, but the image of the Chinese in the eyes of most foreigners would appear to be fairly positive.

The five adjectives most frequently used to describe Chinese people were "friendly," "polite," "diligent," "helpful," and "honest." The most common negative adjectives were "messy," "too eager to Westernize," "inefficient," "self-centered," and "impolite." "Polite" and "impolite" would appear to contradict each other; however, anthropologist Li Yi-yuan of the Academia Sinica says that the explanation may be that Chinese are not very good at handling relationships with strangers. Value-neutral characterizations were "family-oriented," "conservative and sky," and "complicated and hard to understand."

In the eyes of foreigners, who best represents the Chinese people? Confucius received the most votes with ten. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China, placed second with seven. The late President Chiang Kai-shek, Hu Shih, Mencius, Li Po, Tu Fu, the First Emperor of Ch'in, Lu Hsun, and Lin Yu-tang also were mentioned.

Our survey of Chinese respondents revealed that 75 percent believe the image of the Chinese people has recently changed. Positive changes include those toward greater creativity, vitality, efficiency, self-awareness, educational development, and willingness to express one's opinions. Negative tendencies include those toward materialism, a loss in personal warmth, a blind worship of things foreign, opportunism, a lowering in moral standards, individualism, and a neglect of spiritual values.

With contacts between countries ever increasing, international promotion has come to be regarded as an urgent task. But 65 percent of those polled believe that foreigners have misconceptions of the Chinese, misunderstandings including thinking that China is backward, prone to counterfeiting, undemocratic, unscientific, and not law-abiding.

Should we then just go about our own business and let the chips fall where they may? Most people (72 percent) think that the perceptions of foreigners should not be ignored. A good international image can win us the friendship and support of other countries and help in political, diplomatic, and economic development. Others (24 percent) do not care so much what others think and believe that to do well oneself is the most important thing, that prejudice is inevitable, and that one should not make a mountain out of a molehill.

Chinese respondents characterized the typical Chinese as "diligent," "unpretentious," and "full of human warmth and feeling." "Conservative," "long-suffering," and "money-oriented" were also mentioned. "Stingy," "lacking in concern for the general welfare," and "disunited" were the three most frequently mentioned negative characteristics.

Who do the Chinese respondents think best represents the Chinese people? Politicians received the most votes (all about the same number), including such figures as Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the late President Chiang Kaishek, President Chiang Ching-kuo, Vice President Lee Teng-hui, and others. Astronaut Taylor Wang, business tycoon Wang Yung-ch'ing, women athletes Chi Cheng and Hsu Ah-yu, and a number of scholars, writers, artists, and actors were also spoken of. Not a few respondents confidently proposed "myself."

"A high educational level, an entrepreneurial citizenry, a high rate of savings, abundant financial resources, and a society with a solid political foundation are the resources that we can be proud of," according to Taiwan's Commonwealth magazine. But in the course of development to a modern society, how to keep self-confidence from becoming self-satisfaction, how to raise the quality of life, and how to foster an inner cultivation of the spirit are questions worthy of reflection and examination.

The Chinese are changing. We all hope the changes will be for the better.