There is an old saying in China that goes, “those that know to be content are also happy.” Obviously happiness is more of a sense of being and a mindset about life than just about being the richest and the most famous.

A graph illustrating number indexes that represent happiness of women in the researched cities

CMMR (China Mainland Marketing Research Co.) Beijing branch, a professional data collection and analysis provider company, has conducted a research of 16 Chinese mainland cities since the start of the year 2010. They've surveyed 1,760 female city-dwellers between the ages 16 to 70, asking them about their feelings of happiness and what they thought were factors contributing to their sense of happiness or lack thereof. The agency compiled the statistics they've gathered and have recently published their reports: Tianjin was ranked first with a happiness index of 84.2, Xi'an ranked second to last with a happy index of 68.5, and Guiyang came in last (66.0).

The report was entitled “Research on the Happiness of Women City-Dwellers” and the results showed that women were generally happier than men in the researched cities, averaging a happiness index of 74.3.

As for factors women thought contributed to their sense of happiness or lack thereof, four main influences emerged: family life, personal health, relationships with others, and issues related to their child's education; of the four, a peaceful and loving family life was enlisted as one of the main influences impacting on the women's sense of happiness. A staff member with the Women's Association in Xi'an had pointed out that divorce and domestic violence were the top two concerns for women. According to statistics, in the period between January and September of 2009, the civil intermediate courts in Xi'an have handled over 7,013 divorce suits, of which 6,014 had “successfully” divorced and around 1,000 or so are still buried in paper work and other legal entanglements.

The survey also showed that women were the most happy in the eastern coastal cities of China, averaging a happiness index of 77.4 – which is 6.7 points higher than those living in the mid-western cities. Of the top 10 cities where women were the happiest, seven were eastern coastal cities and only three were mid-western cities.

Of the 16 cities researched, Tianjin came in first and the rest are ranked consecutively from second to last: Shenyang, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing, Jinan, Changchun, Hefei, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, Xi'an, and Guiyang.

Women City-dwellers' Reactions to the Survey Results?

Ms. Han, a resident of Xi'an, had her doubts about the survey results because as she puts it: “I have friends in Beijing and Shanghai, and they've all told me how much pressure they're experiencing with having to buy cars and homes. I feel that since living standards are much lower here in Xi'an, I think I'm actually happier than them.”

“I think all women have the ability to achieve happiness for themselves,” Ms. Gao explained wisely, “the key is to be content about where you stand and to not to have unrealistic expatiations of yourself and those around.”

Source: ifeng.com

***

Related Links:

2010 Alpha Female: Protects Home and Fights Off Husband-Stealing Sluts
China’s Ten Happiest Cities
10 of the World’s Happiest Places

Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.