Editor's note: The following article was translated and edited from an article published in City Evening News, a Guilin-based newspaper. The article discusses a recent survey, measuring Chinese people's trust of others. The results are both obvious and shocking: The majority of respondents trust their nuclear family…and no one else.

As Chinese society becomes increasingly multifaceted (and self-serving), who is there left to trust? That is the core question raised in a recent survey, which asked respondents to rank the people they "trusted most" in their lives. The "trust" survey was conducted by Tsinghua University's Media Survey Lab and the "Insight China" magazine from June to July 2012. Researchers interviewed 1,017 people across China. The results of the survey were publicly announced on September 1.  

For anyone who knows anything about Chinese culture, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that parents was far and away the most popular answer (90%), followed by spouse (56%) and sibling(s) (39.1%). According to Ju Chunyan, a professor of sociology at Beijing University of Technology, blood relations and marital relations generally make up the core of an individual's "circle of trusted individuals"—representing a deeper level of intimacy with those people. However, from there, things get a bit more interesting. Upon seeing the results of this survey, Ju now believes that such "trust circles" in China appear to be shrinking…

People naturally form a deep level of trust with their parents, siblings and spouses

Why is it exactly that parents have topped this survey for the past three years? According to Ju, from a sociological point of view, it's because the intimate relationships that most people have with their parents, siblings and spouses are based on "natural emotions", and consequently it's easiest for people to develop a pure and unconditional trust with them. Conversely, developing a similarly deep relationship of trust with a friend or colleague is more based on "resolving problems" together.

That is to say, only if you're able to resolve a problem by acknowledging and acting on "principles of reciprocity" that are mutually beneficial to both parties will real trust ever be established. Unfortunately, in recent years, the rise of the shashu (杀熟) phenomenon (the act of swindling associates, friends or relatives) and the prominence of a new "interest-based relationship" model during China's period of social transformation have both proved to be significant challenges to the former ways of developing and maintaining trust-based relationships between non-related Chinese individuals.

40% of respondents don't trust more than three people!

"How many individuals do you trust?" In response to this survey question, 41.1% of respondents answered 1-3 people, 31.6% of respondents answered 4-6 people and only 21% of respondents answered 6 or more people. And as if these figures weren't shocking enough, it gets worse: Chinese people's trust in others is apparently diminishing: according to the results of the 2011 survey, that year, 38.3% of respondents trusted 1-3 people, 30.3% of respondents trusted 3-6 people and 31.4% trusted 6 or more people. That's a 10% drop in respondents answering 6 or more people in a single year!

"As far as improving interpersonal relations goes, this is not at all a good sign," Ju says. Citing the slight increase for 1-3 people and the massive decrease for 6 or more people, Ju now believes that such "trust circles" in China appear to be shrinking—a phenomenon he suggests is an effect of the "opposing nature of ‘relationships built out of trust' and ‘the influences of the market economy' on the objective requirements for building and maintaining a broad social trust".  

In broader terms, Ju believes that China's society is changing from one of acquaintances to one of strangers, and that a "Don't talk to strangers" motif is increasingly becoming the norm, consequently negatively affecting the overall level of social trust.

Like many other sociologists, Ju believes that "trust" is one of the lifelines of modernization and that general relationships built on trust must exist in today's society.
As such, it's no surprise that Ju and many others find the results of this year's survey more than a little bit unnerving. Since most only trust their parents and 1-3 people at most, where does that leave trust in friendship? And with such an attitude, what does that make strangers? Automatic adversaries?

Groups further removed from modern society viewed as more sincere and honest

In this year's survey, respondents were also asked which of the 34 listed occupational groups they considered to be "sincere and honest". According to the respondents, of these 34 occupational groups, only five really stood out for their sincerity and honesty: farmers, military personnel, students, teachers and migrant workers. While analysing these results, Ju noticed an interesting correlation between an occupational group's "social distance" from modern society and its perceived "sincerity and honesty". That is to say, respondents (subconsciously or not) believe that the further removed a particular occupational group is from interacting with those at the core of modern society, the more virtuous they are.

While it's a compelling argument, Ju himself is quick to acknowledge that it does not necessarily prove that these "socially distant" occupational groups are, in fact, more sincere and honest than other, more "modern" occupational groups. Even though about 70% of respondents stated that their judgements are "affected by personal interaction" with these occupational groups, Ju believes that we shouldn't underestimate the role that basic "stereotyping" plays in the formation of such judgements, noting that to sociologists, stereotypes are also known as "fixed effects"; that once such an impression is formed, it can be difficult to break.

Source: cswbszb.chinajilin.com.cn
 

Related links
Playing Snakes & Ladders: What's Stopping Philanthropy in China?
Organ Donation: Is Altruism Dead in China?
Illogical or Tactical? Lies in Chinese Culture

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.

Keywords: Chinese trust problem who do Chinese trust trust survey China Chinese distrust and modernization