Political culture and Chinese perceptions of government

This paper examines the political culture of Chinese college students in the United States using a similar survey administered by Andrew Nathan and Tianjian Shi in Mainland China. The findings of the survey highlight a notable difference in responses based on the origin of the Chinese students. In the survey Chinese students from Mainland China are more likely to offer "no opinion" responses to politically sensitive inquiries compared to Chinese students from Taiwan. The findings indicate the high frequency of "no opinion" from Mainland Chinese students possibly related to the "political persecution hypothesis." Subsequent interviews with Chinese students from Mainland China and Taiwan found significant differences in each groups' civics/citizenship education. Receiving heavy exposure to Marxist ideology in explaining the role of government and Chinese citizens' relationship to it, Mainland Chinese students lack the necessary civics/citizenship education to understand the functions of government as well as their ability to influence government policy. Chinese students from Taiwan however, receive a civics/citizenship education explaining the role of government and how citizens can actively participate in the political sphere. The paper concludes that conceptual challenges and the possibility of the "political persecution hypothesis" as potential causes for the high frequency of "no opinion" in the survey responses by Mainland Chinese students.