THE VALUES OF CHINESE STUDENTS - AT HOME AND ABROAD

The Rokeach Value Survey was administered to two groups of Chinese students: Those residing in the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) and those who had emigrated to the United States (U.S.A.). Results indicated that the two groups have very different value hierarchies. The traditional stereotypes, which depict the Chinese as dependent and collectivistic in nature, in contrast to the independent and individualistic Americans, were not confirmed; instead the converse appeared. P. R. C. students assigned greater importance to individualistic values, whereas the U.S.A. group deemed collectivistic values more salient. The dimension of class as a meaningful variable was discussed as a tentative explanation of the results.