China started a survey last week in order to gather information on
the release of city people's joyfulness index in eight cities
across China. In Beijing, about 5,000 citizens have participated in
it by phone. Related research has also been launched online, the
China Youth Daily reported.
This is the first time that China has launched a research on the
release of city people's joyfulness index. The cities are large
metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and
second- and third-tier cities like Taiyuan, Chengdu, Guilin and
Weihai. In doing the survey, the organizers first divide the
interviewees into different groups based on their ages. The
research will be done in various forms, including random surveys on
streets, questionnaires, group discussions, face-to-face talks and
experts consultancy. The information will be analyzed by common
practices and internationally recognized methods and the final
result will be published by the end of October. It is estimated
that about 300,000 people will participate in the survey.
Earlier, some research organizations had issued the Chinese
people's happiness index. The two indexes are different in that the
city people's joyfulness index aims to reflect people's state of
mind and their feelings about life for a short period. Such
feelings are more of people's individual feelings based on every
person's own preferences or life values. It tells how a person or a
particular group of people in society feel about their life in a
particular environment in a particular period.
(Chinanews October 9, 2007)
