In this comprehensive book, Wenfang Tang explores the nature and origins of mass opinion in urban China through survey research conducted between 1987 and 2000. The general theme is how some local democratic practices can develop within the People's Republic of China (PRC). However, rather than presenting a single theory or model, Tang examines a series of case studies on public opinion. He draws on a rich data set that consists of 11 large-scale urban surveys conducted by Chinese government and academic institutions, including his own 1999 six-city survey. With this data he examines a wide range of theories and explanations, such as regime legitimacy (Chapter 3), the influence of the media on opinion (Chapter 4), social capital theory (Chapter 5), political participation (Chapters 6 and 7), and the role of intellectuals (Chapter 8). Thus, this book has a broad appeal to those interested in political development as well as contemporary China.
Public opinion research is still a new and developing field in China. Tang provides an honest portrayal of the challenges and pitfalls of conducting survey research in the PRC. He lays out the political difficulties and possible solutions before presenting the statistical analysis. He addresses a number of issues regarding data quality, including questionnaire design, the truthfulness of respondents, and sampling problems. Questionnaire construction and choosing the right wording is a difficult task under the best survey conditions in industrialized democracies, but it is even more complicated in an authoritarian regime. The issue is political sensitivity. Certain topics cannot be addressed in Chinese opinion surveys, such as evaluations of specific national leaders or the efficiency of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, questions about local government, political behavior, and economic policies tend to be more acceptable. Tang correctly points out that political sensitivity is not a significant problem because of the numerous nonsensitive topics that can be explored (p. 52). He also deals with the issue of fear and assessing the truthfulness of respondents. This is done by identifying indicators of fear, which include specific survey questions that address trepidation in publicly criticizing the government, the nonresponse rate, and the number of “do not know” answers. These indicators allow the researcher to assess possible bias. Finally, drawing a representative urban sample is becoming more difficult due to the increase in rural-to-urban (and urban-to-urban) migration. Tang mentions several methods to resolve the problem, including the use of Geographic Positioning Systems (p. 45). More importantly, he reminds us that given the difficulties in obtaining a nationally representative sample, it is often safer to study the relationships between variables than the descriptive statistics about a single variable. Thus, he presents a convincing argument that despite the potential problems, “public opinion surveys can be effectively used as a research tool for studying China” (p. 50).
The book is divided into three parts and nine chapters. The first two chapters provide background for the reader, with a brief history of the important political and economic events in contemporary China (Chapter 1) and a detailed description of the surveys (Chapter 2). The next three chapters discuss how public opinion is formed in China. The results in Chapter 3 might be puzzling for American scholars who believe that regime support is associated with political legitimacy. Throughout the 1990s, no matter how the questions are worded, most of the surveys that address trust in the national leadership or trustworthiness in central government institutions report a strong level of support. Moreover, in his own 1999 six-city survey, Tang finds that the state-controlled media had an increasingly significant influence on regime support over time (p. 98). For scholars interested in social capital theory, another intriguing result is the high level of interpersonal trust among friends and neighbors and, at the same time, a low tolerance for other groups and alternative opinions. In Chapter 5, he concludes that in urban China, interpersonal trust is positively related with some democratic practices, such as voting in local elections and contacting officials, but it is negatively associated with democratic values such as social tolerance (p. 115). The last three chapters examine political participation and the responsiveness of local government agents. One of the key findings is that popular opinion can be expressed in urban China and that local government agencies are becoming more responsive. However, the author warns against too much optimism and states that “there was no evidence that the highest levels of the Chinese political system were responsive to broader political issues and challenges” (p. 139).
In general, this book challenges the pretransition or predemocratization literature that stresses the role of a growing urban middle class to make greater political demands on the authoritarian regime. Tang finds that the urban demands are focused on material or modern values, such as housing and job security, rather than postmodern values, such as human rights and individual political autonomy. Although there are increasing reports of urban protests and demonstrations against local government agencies, these disturbances represent only a small proportion of the urban population, and they currently pose no threat to the regime. In fact, the central leadership continues to enjoy a high level of popular support. This suggests that reforms that allow greater political participation are absorbing a number of growing middle-class economic demands. The question is whether the CCP can or will continue to adjust for greater political demands in the future.
Of course, not everyone will agree with the various results presented in this study, but this is an engaging book that examines how China fits into general theories on political development. The data analysis presented here will also serve as baseline comparison for future studies. In sum, this book is a welcome addition to transition literature and the developing field of public opinion research in China.
