Urban Chinese Support for the Chinese Dream: Empirical Findings from Seventeen Cities

To what extent do Chinese citizens support the concept of the Chinese dream? What is the major source for the support of the Chinese dream among Chinese citizens? There is almost no representative-sample study to systematically address these questions. To fill in this gap, this article examines the intensity and the source of the Chinese people’s support for the Chinese dream. Based on a seventeen-cities survey, this research revealed the following: first, the support for the Chinese dream among Chinese urban residents is very high and real; second, the concept of the Chinese dream has three dimensions (i.e., national dream, social dream, and individual dream) and a strong collectivistic feature which is in sharp contrast with the individualistic American dream. The construction of the Chinese dream is actually based on Chinese traditional culture: respect for political authority, desire for social order and support for a powerful government. In the end, this research suggests that the construction of the Chinese dream should remain open and change with the evolving public values in China.