Happiness and Subjective Wellbeing in Mainland China

RESEARCH PAPER

Happiness and Subjective Wellbeing in Mainland China

Zhenghui Chen Æ Gareth Davey

Published online: 18 March 2008� Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

Abstract The study of happiness and subjective wellbeing (SWB) has received increased

interest among scholars in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), who published their

findings nationally in Chinese language journals. This paper introduces their work to the

international audience. The first study appeared in the journals in 1999, and about 800

research papers have been published to date. The field is anchored in ten areas: the most

salient are the general surveying of SWB; areas within health psychology; and personality

research. There was a paucity of research in most areas, and a disproportional amount of

research in relation to geographical area. Most research was conducted in Shandong (North

East China) and Guangdong (South China), whereas no studies reported in the Chinese

journals have been conducted in regions such as Inner Mongolia and Tibet. The majority of

studies used augmented versions of Western scales as their measurement instrument,

although Chinese scholars have developed their own scales. The research field is devel-

oping rapidly, but is limited currently by its infancy, overuse of student samples,

inadequate descriptions of research methodology, and isolation from studies published

outside the country. Recommendations are provided to overcome these issues and to

advance the field further.

Keywords China � Happiness � Subjective wellbeing

1 Introduction

Although the study of happiness and subjective wellbeing (SWB) originated and developed

in the West, a body of literature has emerged from East Asian countries and cultures. In

particular, there have been intriguing reports about these constructs in Chinese culture. For

example, the China-related papers published to date in the Journal of Happiness Studies

Z. ChenPsychology Department, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai Campus, Zhuhai, China

G. Davey (&)Psychology Department, University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester CH1 4BJ, UKe-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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J Happiness Stud (2008) 9:589–600DOI 10.1007/s10902-008-9092-7

(Table 1) have explored diverse topics such as the cultural conceptions of happiness (Lu

2001; Lu and Gilmour 2004); perceived quality of life (Chappell 2005); satisfaction with

different life domains (Tsou and Liu 2001; acculturation (Zheng et al. 2004); and variation

in relation to variables such as age, personality, social grouping, social support, etc.

(Cheung and Leung 2004; Lu and Hu 2005; Lee and Chan 2006). This research has begun

to unravel the tenets of happiness/SWB in Chinese culture, and sets a strong foundation for

further investigation.

There are different Chinese societies across the globe: the mainland of the People’s

Republic of China (PRC),1 Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, as well as Chinese communities

in other countries. The largest and most populous is, of course, the PRC, which is home to

1.4 billion people. Psychology in the PRC has had a long history, grounded in the writings

of ancient Chinese philosophers. It emerged as an independent scientific discipline in the

1800s, with the dissemination of Western psychology by Chinese students who had

returned from the West. The first psychology laboratory was set up in 1917 at Beijing

University, followed a few years later by the establishment of the first psychology

department in 1920 at the Nanjing Higher Normal College, and the initiation in 1921 of the

Chinese Psychological Society (CPS) and its journal (Li 1994; Jing 1994; Higgins and

Zheng 2002). The field was oriented initially toward Western psychology, but later adopted

Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought following the founding of the PRC in 1949.

Thereafter the field was ebbed by political movements, including its suspension during the

Cultural Revolution (a political movement during 1966–1977). Chinese psychology

re-emerged in the late 1970s, after the end of the Cultural Revolution, and currently enjoys

Table 1 China-related papers published in the Journal of Happiness Studies (2000–2007)

Authors Chinese society studied Author(s) affiliation % of references inChinese journalsa

Zeng et al. (2004) Students in Australia Mainland China 0

Lu and Gilmour (2004) American students Taiwan 0

Cheung and Leung (2004) Beijing Hong Kong 0

Chan and Lee (2006) Beijing & Hong Kong Hong Kong 0

Chappell (2005) Canadian Chinese Canada 0

Liao et al. (2005) Taiwan & Hong Kong Taiwan 0

Lu and Hu (2005) Hong Kong Taiwan 0

Wong and Tang (2003) Hong Kong Hong Kong 0

Moneta (2004) Hong Kong United Kingdom 0

Lu (2001) Taiwan Taiwan 0

Tsou and Liu (2001) Taiwan Taiwan 0

Sheldon and Hoon (2007) Singapore USA 0

a Although none of the studies cited journals published in the PRC, some cited references published in otherChinese societies such as Hong Kong and Taiwan. Further, the analysis above focused only on Chineseacademic journals, and not books or newspapers

1 The PRC consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four central administrative municipalities,and two special administrative regions (SARs). The analysis in the present article is not applicable to theSARs (Hong Kong and Macau) because they developed different academic research frameworks duringcolonial rule by Britain and Portugal respectively.

590 Z. Chen, G. Davey

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renewed popularity. There are now more than 6,000 members of the Chinese Psychological

Society, and almost all universities offer psychology or related courses.

Another perusal of the studies listed in Table 1 shows that they were conducted mainly in

Hong Kong, Taiwan, or in overseas Chinese communities, and by authors based there. Only

two were done in the PRC (Cheung and Leung 2004; Chan and Lee 2006), but authored by

scholars outside it. This situation implies a paucity of research there. However, this inference

overlooks the increased interest shown by mainland-based researchers who publish their

findings predominantly in Chinese journals. These journals are distinguished from interna-

tional publications, such as the Journal of Happiness Studies, because they are managed and

published nationally in China; are generally not listed in international research databases;

receive contributions almost exclusively from Chinese scholars; and are published in the

Chinese language.2 For these reasons, they are relatively inaccessible or unknown to the

international audience, and are difficult for non-Chinese speakers to locate and read. This may

explain the non-citation of Chinese journals3,4 in the papers listed in Table 1.

The portrayal of a lack of research is worrisome. Researchers interested in Chinese

societies, as well as those concerned with specific topics across countries (e.g. income and

SWB), are likely to benefit from an awareness of the work being done in China. The first

stage of any good research project involves a literature review and analysis in order to

ascertain ground that has been covered previously, and gaps in knowledge that need to be

bridged. How can this be achieved if Chinese journals are being ignored? If scholars

endeavour to conduct informed and thorough research, it seems essential that research

findings reported in Chinese journals are taken into consideration. To exemplify this point,

Davey, Chen, and Lau (in press) recently surveyed the SWB of Chinese peasants living

within a farming village, and argued that the study was warranted because all research to

date in international journals was confined to student and urban samples. However, they

did not search the Chinese journals, and therefore overlooked several papers that explored

SWB in rural areas (e.g. Xing 2006; Song et al. 2007). Although their work remains an

original contribution, it would have benefited from a discussion of the Chinese literature.

In response to the situation discussed above, the purpose of the present paper is to

introduce Chinese journals and the research reported in them about happiness/SWB. It will

bring the reader up-to-date with the research being done in the PRC, and will serve as a

point of entry into the literature.

2 Method

The academic journals published in the PRC were searched for papers about happiness/

SWB. Chinese journals are readily accessible within Chinese university libraries and

2 Note that a few international online collections of published scientific research have begun to list selectedChinese journals. An example is the Science Direct China collection, which is a series of prestigiousChinese science, technology and medical journals. Although the number of available journals is currentlysmall, the collection is expected to grow in the future, and other collections may follow suit.3 The analysis of studies published in the Journal of Happiness Studies is presented here only to exemplifythe independence of the Chinese and international research traditions in the context of happiness/SWB field.It is certainly not intended to represent an analysis of the extent to which the research of Chinese scholars isrepresented in international publications.4 For purpose of clarity in the present study, the term ‘Chinese journal’’ denotes only journals publishednationally, within the mainland of the PRC. It does not refer to journals published within other Chinesesocieties (e.g. in Taiwan).

Happiness and Subjective Wellbeing in Mainland China 591

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research institutes, and they can also be searched on online databases. We used the China

Online Journals (COJ) system created by the Wanfang Data Company, which is a leading

information contents provider in China and a task force under the government’s Ministry

of Science and Technology. The COJ is comprehensive, as it covers 98.5% of the country’s

academic journals (5,638 as of March 2007).

The COJ system was searched using the keyword ‘happiness/subjective wellbeing’5

between 1998 and October 2007. The search result listed several hundred articles. The first

stage of the analysis involved calculating the frequency of papers published yearly; the

types of journals they were published in; and whether the studies involved empirical

investigation in the sense that they were based on observation and experiment, such as data

collection/analysis, as opposed to speculative reflection.

Next, the empirical papers were analysed further. The research focus of each paper was

identified, and the research methodology of each study was examined for details of sample

characteristics, geographical location, and type of measurement instrument. The survey

revealed that four scales had been created by Chinese scholars, and each was described further.

Last, the Chinese field was compared with Western research, using a framework devised

by Diener and Biswas-Diener (2000). They concluded that, during the past 50 years,

Western SWB research has progressed through two stages, and is currently entering its

third. The stages are: the description and comparison of life satisfaction in different

demographic groups, often with no reports of scale reliability/validity (Stage 1); the

exploration of theoretical models, improvement/validation of SWB measures, and rela-

tionships between cultural values and SWB (Stage 2); and theoretical accounts that

recognise psychological influences on different measures, as well as the use of multiple

measures, longitudinal designs, and experimental manipulation (Stage 3; Diener and Bi-

swas-Diever 2000). According to this definition, the Chinese papers surveyed in the present

study were allocated into a category (Stage 1, 2, or 3).

3 Results

3.1 Number of Research Papers and Journals

A total of 796 papers about happiness/SWB were retrieved from the databases between

1999 and October 2007. The first study appeared in 1999, and the number of papers per

year increased thereafter, particularly during 2005–2007 (Table 2). Between 30 and 40%

of the papers were empirical (Table 2). Interestingly, the first paper which appeared was

about the wellbeing of retired university teachers in relation to their family characteristics

(Li et al. 1999), and the seven papers that followed mainly concerned the wellbeing of

various elderly groups (e.g. Song et al. 2000; Liu and Gong 2000; Lin et al. 2000). This

handful of studies represents the beginning of the research field in China.

5 As in English, the notion of happiness also has many meanings in Mandarin Chinese. The Chinesetranslation for subjective wellbeing and happiness is ‘‘zhuguan xingfu gan’’ and ‘‘xingfu’’, respectively,which both include the word ‘‘xingfu’’. Therefore, in the present analysis, the keyword ‘‘xingfu’’ wasconsidered to be the most appropriate keyword, which means happiness in the context of subjective well-being, and yields the search results as those obtained when both keywords are used. The keyword was alsochosen because a pilot search of the database revealed that it is commonly used and representative of mostresearch; the papers retrieved with alternative keywords (e.g. life satisfaction) were minimal. Note that themain aim of current paper is to introduce the Chinese journals internationally, and deliberately avoids adetailed analysis of the traditional meanings of happiness in China and the West.


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There is no journal in the PRC which focuses exclusively on happiness studies. The five

most popular journals which published the studies (retrieved from the database) were: the

Chinese Journal of Health Psychology (28 papers); the Chinese Mental Health Journal

(16); the Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology (14); the Chinese Journal of Gerontology

(13); and Psychological Science (12; Table 3). However, the proportion of papers

Table 2 Number of papersabout happiness/SWB in Chinesejournals (1999–2007)

Year No. of papers % empirical

2007 198 39

2006 220 34

2005 139 40

2004 77 31

2003 61 41

2002 54 30

2001 30 33

2000 16 50

1999 1 100

1998 0 0

Table 3 Top 20 Chinese jour-nals which published happiness/SWB papers (1999–2007)

Journal name N

China Journal of Health Psychology 28

Chinese Mental Health Journal 16

Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology 14

Chinese Journal of Gerontology 13

Psychological Science 12

Psychological Development and Education 11

Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medical Science 9

Journal of Clinical Rehabilitative Tissue Engineering Research 9

Chinese Journal of School Health 8

Science & Technology Information 7

Journal of Nursing Science 6

Advances in Psychological Science 5

Chinese Journal of Special Education 4

Education and Vocation 4

Youth & Juvenile Research 4

Chinese General Practice 4

Chinese Journal of Applied Psychology 3

Commercial Times 3

Modern Education Science 3

Chinese Journal of Public Health 3

Social science (Provincal & city journals ) 18

College & university journals 308

Others 304

Total 796


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published in them is small in comparison to the total number of papers retrieved. Instead,

the papers are published in a wide range of journals pertaining to psychology and other

fields. This indicates that no journals characterise the field (Table 3).

3.2 Research Areas

The empirical studies were analysed further. They are anchored in ten research areas

(Table 4), although three seem to dominate the field. Most papers are about the general

surveying of happiness/SWB among different groups in the general population, such as in

different societal groups and specific provinces, cities, etc. The other main research areas

were relationships between SWB and aspects of health psychology, and personality

research. When the studies were allocated into Stage 1, 2, or 3 based on Diener and

Biswas-Diener’s classification, the majority were characterised as either Stage 1 (36.6%) or

Stage 2 (57.6%); only a minority of studies were equivalent to Stage 3 (5.9%).

3.3 Research Method

The studies researched a range of samples. A large proportion utilised student samples,

including university (31%) and high/middle school students (16%; Table 5). Those that

probed non-student samples focused on either the general public (16%), the elderly (17%),

hospital patients (8%), and teachers (7%; Table 5).

There is a disproportionate amount of research in relation to geographical area, and a paucity

of research in most areas. Most studies were conducted in Shandong (40) and Guangdong (31)

provinces, whereas only one study was done in Xingjiang, Ningxia, and Hainan provinces

(Fig. 1). No research has been conducted in Tibet and Inner Mongolia (Fig. 1).

Various scales were used by researchers to measure SWB (Table 6). The majority were

developed in Western countries and translated into Chinese; the most commonly used were

the General Well-being schedule (GWBS; 22%); the Memorial University of Newfound-

land Scale (MUNFH; 16%); the Index of Wellbeing/Index of General Affect (11%); and

the Satisfaction of Life Scale/other Affect scales (7%). Some of them had been modified

slightly for Chinese respondents, i.e. the cancellation of some scale items not suitable for

China, with the recalculation of reliability and validity. About 10% of the studies employed

scales which had been developed by Chinese scholars. These scales are not widely known

outside China, and their descriptions are as follows:

Table 4 The main areas ofChinese research about happi-ness/SWB

Research area N %

General survey 113 39

Health psychology 48 17

Personality research 35 12

Social psychology 24 8

Scale creation/research methods 13 4

Educational psychology 13 4

Socio-economic characteristics 7 2

Medical psychology 6 2

Cultural psychology 6 2

Organisational (industrial) psychology 6 2


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• Subjective Wellbeing Scale for Chinese citizens (SWBS-CC). A 54 (original version)

and 20 (short version) item scale, with ten domains. Responses are answered on a 6-

point Likert scale. Includes items which measure family harmony, which is an

important aspect of Chinese culture. Reliability and validity have been demonstrated

using internal consistency reliability and construct validity (Xing and Huan 2007).

• Chinese Adolescent Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale (CASISS). The scale consists of

51 statements, answered on a 7-point Likert scale. Includes items which measure

family satisfaction, such as good family relations, which is relevant to the Chinese

cultural context. The scale was validated using internal consistency and test-retest

reliability, and construct and discrimination validity (Zhang et al. 2004).

• Subjective Wellbeing for Senior High School Students (SWB-HSS). The scale was

developed specifically for high school students. It consists of 35 items across five

domains, measured on a 5-point Likert scale. It does not include items specific to the

Chinese socio-cultural context.

• Multiple Happiness Questionnaire (MHQ). A 50 item scale with nine domains

answered on a 7-point Likert scale. Includes items which measure altruistic

commitment toward society, an important aspect of Chinese culture. It was validated

Table 5 Types of samples sur-veyed in the Chinese literature

Sample N

Teacher

Higher education 5

Primary/secondary school 9

Kindergarten 3

Others 2

Total 19

University student

Unspecified 57

Medical 10

Normal university 8

Postgraduate 3

Private school 2

Poor 3

Others 7

Total 90

School student

High/middle school 38

Vocational 8

Total 46

Non-student sample

Public survey 34

Elderly 49

Hospital patients 23

Women 7

Military personnel 8

Others 14

Total 135


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using various reliability (internal consistency; split-half; test-retest) and validity

(construct and content) methods (Miao 2003).

4 Discussion

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the studies about happiness/SWB published in

Chinese journals. The analysis is important because there is an urgent need to increase

awareness of the work of Chinese scholars to the international audience.

The field began relatively recently in the PRC; the first study appeared in 1999, and a

handful were published the following year. The analysis showed that although the number

of papers published between 1998 and 2007 is growing, the field is at an early stage of its

development. There are several reasons. First, as discussed in the introduction, the

development of psychology in the country is also relatively recent. Although some long-

established areas of Chinese psychological research exist (such as experimental psychol-

ogy, the Chinese language and writing system, and developmental psychology), many

others are newly emerging, including positive psychology, organizational psychology,

biopsychology, and neuroscience (Harnandez-Guzman and Zhang 2004). Psychology in

China, similar to the West, is grounded traditionally in the diagnosis and healing of mental

illness, with only a recent call for focus on the constructs that constitute normal and

positive behaviour. Also, psychology in China is concerned predominantly with applied

problems, especially those related to economic development (Higgins and Zheng 2002).

Fig. 1 Number of studies conducted in each province of China


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The analysis in this paper showed that the main focus of the Chinese research to date is

the general description of happiness/SWB. Research has also investigated the psycho-

logical processes which mediate SWB, particularly personality characteristics, and

variables within health and social psychology. When the Chinese field was compared with

the three-stage development path proposed by Diener and Biswas-Diener (2000), most

research in China is equivalent to Stages 1 and 2, whereas a few studies can be categorized

as Stage 3. It is not argued here that the development of Chinese research is expected or

should follow the same path as in the West, but it is interesting to compare them. In

particular, each stage represents a higher level of complexity and sophistication in research

aims and design. Thus, it seems that the research in China has not yet reached the level of

complexity as Western research. The majority of studies used Western measures translated

in to Chinese, although four scales have been developed by Chinese scholars. Three of the

Chinese scales included items specific for the Chinese socio-cultural context; the SWB-CC

and CASISS measured family harmony, and the MHQ probed altruistic commitment.

These constructs are an integral component of the Chinese view of self, in which happiness

is accomplished partly through group relationships and the welfare of others, in contrast to

the Western interpretation characterized by personal accountability and explicit pursuit (Lu

and Gilmour 2006). The development of Chinese scales is a welcome finding, as Western

approaches are not necessarily appropriate to study Eastern cultures. It should not be

assumed that the salient concepts of happiness/SWB in the West share the same meanings

and values in a Chinese perspective. The PRC, with its different historical, political, social,

and economic systems, may nurture different meanings of happiness/SWB that some

Western scales may fail to capture. There needs to be more emphasis on the Chinese scales,

and researchers interested in the scales are advised to read the relevant references listed in

this paper.

The analysis of research methodology revealed some limitations of the Chinese

research. A large number of studies did not provide adequate descriptions of their research

Table 6 Scales used by Chinese scholars to measure happiness/SWB

Type of scale N %

General Well-Being Schedule (GWBS) 63 22

Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale (MUNSH) 45 16

Index of Well-Being, Index of General Affect 32 11

Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) & other Affect scales 19 7

International College Survey Questionnaire 13 5

Chinese Adolescent Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (CASlSS) 10 3

Subjective Wellbeing Scale for Chinese Citizen (SWBS-CC) 9 3

Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWB) 8 3

Multiple Happiness Questionnaire (MHQ) 7 2

SWB for the Senior High School Students (SWB-HSS) 6 2

Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGC) 5 2

General Quality of Life Inventory (GQOLI-74) 5 2

Other scales and research methods 68 23

Total 289 100

The CASlSS, SWBS-CC, MHQ, and SWB-HSS were developed in China (in the Chinese language) spe-cifically for Chinese respondents. The other scales were developed in the West, although some studiesmodified them slightly (i.e., item deletion) to augment their suitability for Chinese respondents


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method, e.g. where the study was conducted. Another characteristic is the dominance of

student samples, and a limited number of categories of non-student samples. The use of

student samples as a surrogate adult sample has been criticized widely, as they are not

representative of the adult population nor their own age-group (Wintre et al. 2001;

Cummins 2003). The analysis also showed that some groups have been understudied in the

PRC, including children, and physically and mentally disabled people. Further, there is a

disproportionate amount of research in relation to geographical area. Most research was

conducted in Shangdong and Guangdong provinces (Fig. 1), whereas other areas have

received little or no research. This suggests a paucity of research in most provinces.

Reasons for this pattern are unclear and require further research; possibilities include the

location of researchers, number of universities and research institutes per region, and the

economic development of each province. All of these limitations highlight the need for

authors to provide more detailed descriptions of their methodology. Second, further

research is needed from a wider range of samples and provinces.

5 Recommendations

As discussed earlier, the work reported in Chinese journals is largely isolated from that

published in international outlets. The independent status of these two research traditions is

worrying, because they cover overlapping topics, and research would obviously benefit

from interaction. Integrating both areas is likely to lead to the development of enhanced

research projects. In order to remedy the situation, several suggestions will now be offered.

First, there is a need for researchers in other countries to peruse the work of mainland

scholars. This paper serves as a starting point. As the Chinese language may be a barrier,

researchers are urged to contact and collaborate with their Chinese counterparts, such as

those based in the PRC. Collaborative research projects will also help to increase

awareness in China of research being done internationally. It is suggested also that

international associations concerning happiness/SWB invite Chinese researchers to their

meetings and other activities. A good example is the International Wellbeing Group

(IWBG), which is an international collaborative network of scholars from many countries

who work together to develop an Index to measure subjective wellbeing. The group has

members based in the PRC and other Chinese societies, as well as others around the world,

and they have recently reported cross-country comparisons between Western and Chinese

societies (Lau et al. 2005).

The field in China could also benefit from a journal and an association dedicated to the

study of the topic. An association would offer support and resources such as conferences

and meetings, professional development opportunities, access to a body of previous

research, advocacy of professional aims, recognized standards of practice, and recognition

and acceptance by others. Clearly, more emphasis is needed to develop the field, and to

increase communication and networking within the research community. It is hoped that

this paper will serve as a primer for more research about the happiness/SWB in specific

countries and sociocultural contexts. A lack of coverage of international research creates a

possible Western bias representative of the psychology and cultural traditions of Europe

and North America. The assumption that SWB has the same meaning across the world is

problematic, as Western and Chinese cultural conceptions differ (Diener and Suh 2000;

Laungani 2006).

It seems paradoxical that happiness/SWB research in the world’s most populous country

has been hidden away from the international research audience. It is hoped that this paper


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will buckle that trend. As the world’s most populous country, with a unique culture and a

fast-developing economy and social system, Chinese research is in a unique position to

contribute to our understanding of people’s wellbeing.

Acknowledgement We greatly appreciate encouragement and helpful comments from Dr. Anna Lau.

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Happiness and Subjective Wellbeing in Mainland China