Western Influence of (People's Republic of China) Chinese Students in the United States

This article uses data from a 1987 questionnaire given to students from the People's Republic of China who were attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison to examine what effect living in the United States has on students' attitudes towards the Chinese government. Three specific hypotheses are tested:

Hypothesis 1: The longer Chinese students live in the United States, the more positive will be their attitudes toward the official ideology of the Chinese government.

Hypothesis 2: The longer Chinese students live in the United States, the more negative will be their attitudes toward the official ideology of the Chinese government.

Hypothesis 3: Students' attitudes toward official Chinese ideology are not significantly affected by the number of years they live in the United States. Home culture and some elements of American culture have a stronger effect.

Results indicate that neither of the first two hypotheses are correct. Instead, the data are consistent with both the prediction and underlying assumptions of the minimal-effect hypothesis. The number of years spent in the United States did not have a clear effect on students' attitudes toward the Chinese communist ideology. Instead, age, as an indicator of home culture, and time spent reading the New York Times, as an indicator of a particular aspect of U.S. culture, may have been stronger influences.