A Divided Society: Chinese Public Opinion on Resistance Movements, Democracy, and Rule of Law

Abstract

This chapter examines public opinion on the two civil disobedience movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Questionnaire surveys were conducted with Mainland Chinese citizens to evaluate the consciousness of democracy and the rule of law, and also to explore the gap between ordinary citizens and the weiquan sector. The chapter provides answers to some bewildering developments of democracy and liberalism under China's authoritarianism, such as the passivity of a wider civil society towards democracy and the emergence of young elites who have been educated overseas, but who remain critical of the "Western-style" democracy and liberalism. The Occupy Central (OC) Movement provides a valuable opportunity to probe the political consciousness of the public in contemporary China. The survey solicited the respondents of three types of Mainlanders as a means to differentiate and compare the attitudes among ordinary Chinese citizens: individuals who live in Mainland China, overseas Mainland Chinese, and the weiquan activists.