A Study On Sojourners' Intergroup Contact Mechanisms Based On International Scholars' Changing Intercultural Perceptions Of China

With the acceleration of globalization and the rapid development of China's economy,the number of foreigners who come to China to work,study,and travel has grown rapidly.According to the statistics from China's Ministry of Science and Technology,the number of foreigners working in the Chinese mainland surpassed 950,000 in 2019.However,facing a country in the midst of sweeping changes,any pretravel expectations can be challenged or changed upon one's arrival.The process of adjusting,making contact,and having interactions with the Chinese locals are vital to developing sojourners' ongoing understanding of China.Though there is a body of international theoretical and empirical research on intergroup contact,research on intergroup contact in China is still at a preliminary stage,and usually deals with social issues.There is a general lack of exploration into the dynamism and complexity of the contact mechanism(i.e.,contact conditions,processes,and effects)itself in contemporary Chinese contexts.To fill the research void,this study focuses on international scholars as a unique category — a group of high-caliber sojourners and a relatively less-studied group — and investigates intergroup contact mechanisms via sojourners' changing perceptions before and after coming to China from an intercultural studies perspective.Based on the theoretical foundation of intergroup contact and intercultural perception,this dissertation integrates and develops a theoretical framework for qualitative research design.In-depth interviews with international scholars(N=30)from 22 countries at a national key university in Shanghai were conducted and analyzed interpretatively via thematic analysis,two-cycled coding,and comparison and contrast with both within-case and between-case analysis.Research questions addressed include:(1)What were participants' varied perceptions of China and Chinese people before their arrival and how were those perceptions formulated?(pre-arrival conditions)?(2)What are the contact mechanism factors and processes affecting participants' interaction with Chinese people after their arrival?(upon arrival and early formation)?(3)What are the contact mechanism effects with respect to perceptions of China and Chinese people after participants' arrival?(post-arrival,at a later time after engagement)?Major findings of this study indicate:(1)Even within this well-educated group,the majority of participants have only surface-level knowledge about China and such perceptions are largely overshadowed by prejudices and stereotypes.Those with more nuanced or positive pre-travel perceptions give evidence that these were mostly constructed via personal contact(both direct and indirect)prior to one's departure.(2)Regarding post-arrival changes or developments,this study identified four important contact processes:(a)significant increases in the knowledge about China,which provided opportunities to modify previous biases(cognition),(b)changes in behaviors,including enhancing technical skills and developing resourcefulness(behaviors),(c)reappraisals of one's home culture,the host culture,and oneself(cognition/attitudes),and(d)development processes enhancing one's intercultural sensitivity,stereotype/prejudice re-evaluation,empathy,and host-culture identification(affects).(3)Over time,participants were found to have developed more refined perceptions of and more positive attitudes about China and Chinese locals through their extensive and in-depth encounters.The data elicited and coded themes are shown to have a highdegree of similarity to the three headings categorized by Brislin and Cushner's(1986)Culture General Assimilator framework.Based on the results,this research proposed a 3-element model of sojourners' intergroup contact developmental mechanisms in relation to cultural perceptions in the Chinese context,which consists of:(1)five factors that can influence sojourners' intergroup contact with Chinese people: historical,individual,institutional,task,and situational factors,(2)four contact processes: gaining knowledge,changing behavior,reappraising attitudes,and generating affective ties,and(3)contact effects best represented by sojourners' evolving perceptions of China and Chinese people,namely,intense feelings,knowledge areas,and bases of cultural differences,and 13 perceptual themes(partly consistent with the 18 proposed by Brislin & Cushner,1986).On a macro level,the proposed model reveals mechanisms of intergroup contact between foreigners and the Chinese,which has the potential to promote effective communication,facilitate sojourners' adaptation,enhance intercultural perceptions of China,and provides implications for policy making regarding people-to-people exchange.On a micro level,the model is useful for Chinese institutions to improve their service,promote positive intercultural interactions and guide foreigners towards broader perceptions of China and a more fulfilling sojourn.