Friday, January 10, 2014

Beijing Poll

Mildly interesting 2013 poll in City Weekend magazine, asking what locals & expats think about living in Beijing this past year. A few findings:
The worst thing: both sets said pollution, though it was a whopping 79% from expats, and only 44% from locals.
The most important thing in my life: locals said family (77%), lover (23%), myself (18.6%), then friends, work, money. Expats also put family first but at 38.4% it was half of what the Chinese said, and lover (35.6%) was only marginally behind. Interestingly money mattered more to expats than Chinese.
Where do you get the news?: no surprises that most (92% expats & 79% locals) get it from websites, but what surprised me was that 0% of expats get it from TV. Even if you don't speak Chinese, there's always CCTV News, BBC World, CNN, France24... 
Main mode of transport: for locals it was subway (43%), then car (20%), then bus (15%), then walking, bicycle (a desultory 7%), taxi and scooter. For expats the first choice was - somewhat surprisingly - bicycle (26%), then subway, taxi, scooter, bus, walk and - right at the bottom - car (at only 3%) which I find difficult to believe.
What 2013 event changed the world the most?: a difficult question so the poll gave some choices: Syrian conflict, Philippines typhoon, Boston Marathon bombing, birth of the royal baby, the new pope etc, but top by a mile, for both locals & expats, was Edward Snowden's disclosure of classified documents. 

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