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Survey Shows Pollution Still Top Gripe Of Expatriates In China
February 01, 2007: Atom Survey and Xianzai.com, both subsidiaries
of BDL Media Ltd., today announced the results of the second annual
survey conducted to gauge sentiments of expatriates working in China
about China's work and living environment. For the second year in
a row, pollution was ranked as the top problem experienced by expatriates
living China's major cities.
The survey was conducted online in English and results compiled
from January 2-18 with a total of 520 non-Chinese respondents who
work and live in Mainland China. Last year, 450 respondents were
part of the survey. A "non-Chinese respondent" was characterized
by an individual who has held a non-Chinese passport for more than
10 years and is currently living in China on a Z-class visa for
at least two years already when participating in the survey.
41% of the respondents hold European passports, down 4% from last
year, from countries like United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Spain
having the highest percentages; 46% hold North American passports,
up 11% from last year, with the United States and Canada having
the highest percentages; 11% hold Pacific Rim passports with Australia,
Singapore and Hong Kong having the highest number of respondents;
and the remaining respondents come from other world regions.
51% of the respondents live in Beijing, 31% live in Shanghai, and
the remaining respondents live primarily in Guangdong and Sichuan
provinces.
For the respondents living in Beijing, the biggest headaches they
daily face are Beijing traffic, Internet connectivity, and pollution
problems. 87% of the respondents say that Beijing's traffic problems
have increased since they first came to work in Beijing, up 4% from
last year. 97% say that they often can not visit websites that are
important for them to conduct business or complete work-related
tasks, up 8% from last year. However, days before the survey was
conducted, a major earthquake in Taiwan interrupted Internet service
on the mainland, perhaps causing adding headaches for respondents.
87% say that Beijing's pollution problems have stayed the same or
worsened since they began working in Beijing, an increase of 15%
from last year.
For respondents living in Shanghai, 32% say that Shanghai's traffic
has stayed the same or worsened since they came to work in Shanghai,
down by 8%. 76% say that Shanghai's pollution has stayed the same
or worsened since they first came to the city for work, up from
72% last year.
Overall, when asked to list the biggest problems they faced in
China, pollution was ranked first, followed by traffic, sanitation,
noise, and crowds, respectively.
When asked to rank what they like most about the cities in which
they live, expatriates living in Beijing ranked "Culture and
History" first for the second year in a row, followed by "Cuisine"
and "Business Opportunities", respectively. Last year,
"Schools for Children" was ranked third, but it swapped
places with "Business Opportunities", which was fourth
last year.
For expatriates living in Shanghai, last year they held similar
sentiments to their Beijing counterparts, but this year they had
very different reasons why they liked living in Shanghai. The top
reason for living in Shanghai for expatriates this year was "Environment",
which seems to contradict also some of their biggest gripes.
81% of the respondents characterize themselves as "expats"
who are hired overseas to come work in China, up 8% from last year.
15% characterize themselves as "halfpats" who were already
living or working in China when they were hired by their current
employer.
The average annual salary for all the respondents was US$81,540,
not including housing allowances or work-related bonuses. The average
annual salary for those who considered themselves expats was US$88,000.
14% of the respondents say that they can conduct business negotiations
in spoken Mandarin Chinese, down 4% from last year, but 65% say
that they can hold a simple conversation in Mandarin with Chinese
colleagues, up by 2% from last year.
Atom Survey conducted this survey as an annual marketing analysis
for Xianzai.com. The respondents are all subscribers to Xianzai.com's
email newsletters. The full results are part of Xianzai.com's materials
which are distributed to clients.
For more information, please contact Atom Survey at www.atomsurvey.com.
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