Chinese Urban Youth’s Perception toward EU Speaker: Changjian JiangAug. 21 rd, 2008

Page 1 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 total Respondents’ ages are in homogeneous distribution  Respondents with age between ；  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 group College 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 Methodology

Page 2 Urban youth have a comparatively higher comprehension of EU, where the least familiar part is the “Schengen Agreement”  The average number of questions right answered by respondents is 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

Page 3 The importance of EU to China is only second to US, over 40% urban youths show positive attitude towards Sino-EU bilateral relationship Figure: Evaluation on the Sino-EU bilateral relationshipFigure: 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 High Refuse/not clear BAD Neutral GOOD Refuse/not clear EU depends on China more EU and China depends on each other China depends on EU more LowTotal HighLowTotal

Page 4 High comprehension degree group affirmatively agree with the impact EU expansion on 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 political Polarization and Democratization Figure: Groups with different attitudes towards EU expansion show their opinions on EU’s impact on China Threat more than opportunity Not clear Don’t care Opportunity more than threat Total Negative Not clear No influence Positive High comprehensive degree Low comprehensive degree Total High comprehensive degree Low comprehensive degree

Page 5 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 communication is the most reliable channel for the high comprehension group to get information

Page 6 Urban 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% ） Figure: Consumed products from EU 27 counties

Page 7 Conclusions  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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