HKU POP SITE releases findings of the latest annual June Fourth surveyBack


Press Release on June 1, 2004
 

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the findings of the latest annual June Fourth survey. Relevant figures are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 30-31/5/00 25-29/5/01 14-16/5/02 15-20/5/03 18-20/5/04 Latest change
 Sample base 1,103 1,055 1,009 1,067 1,039 --
 Overall response rate 49.7% 69.4% 63.6% 65.1% 62.3% --
 Sampling error of ratings (at 95% conf. level)* +/- 1.8 +/- 1.8 +/- 1.8 +/- 1.6 +/- 1.8 --
 Sampling error of percentages (at 95% conf. level)* +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% --
 Proportion of respondents believing:            
 The Beijing students did the right thing 36% 37% 38% 46% 42% -4%
 The Beijing students did the wrong thing 16% 21% 19% 15% 19% +4%
 The Chinese Government did the right thing 11% 14% 14% 13% 10% -3%
 The Chinese Government did the wrong thing 61% 56% 53% 62% 67% +5%
 There should be a reversion of the official stand on the incident 47% 40% 39% 47% 54% +7%
 There should not be a reversion of the official stand on the incident 22% 26% 27% 24% 23% -1%
 China's human right condition had been improved since 1989 63% 65% 74% 80% 70% -10%
 China's human right condition had been worsened since 1989 4% 6% 4% 4% 8% +4%
 China's human right condition would be improved after 3 years 62% 58% 65% 71% 63% -8%
 China's human right condition would be worsened after 3 years 3% 5% 3% 4% 4% --
 Hong Kong people had a responsibility to instigate the development of democracy in China 72% 72% 68% 70% 71% +1%
 Hong Kong people had no responsibility to instigate the development of democracy in China 13% 15% 15% 16% 16% --
 Hong Kong people had a responsibility to instigate the economic development in China 79% 79% 72% 72% 76% +4%
 Hong Kong people had no responsibility to instigate the economic development in China 10% 11% 12% 15% 13% -2%
 Hong Kong people should put more effort on instigating the economic development than democracy in China 43% 50% 39% 41% 44% +3%
 Hong Kong people should put more effort on instigating the development of democracy than economy in China 17% 16% 17% 28% 24% -4%
 China should emphasize more on the economic development 50% 58% 47% 46% 50% +4%
 China should emphasize more on the development of democracy 16% 15% 16% 26% 23% -3%
 The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China ("the Alliance") should be disbanded 13% 14% 18% 17% 16% -1%
 The Alliance should not be disbanded 45% 42% 40% 43% 52% +9%
 Popularity rating of the Alliance 49.9 46.2 47.9 47.5 49.2 +1.7

* "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified.

 

This year's survey findings revealed that 42% of the respondents believed that the Beijing students did the right thing in 1989, while 19% believed that they did the wrong thing. Meanwhile, with regard to the way the Chinese Government handled the matter at that time, 10% regarded it as correct and 67% regarded it as wrong.

 

The findings also showed that 54% of the respondents supported a reversion of the official stand on the incident while 23% did not. Regarding the human right condition in China, 70% of the respondents believed that China's human right condition has been improved since 1989, and 63% anticipated that China's human right condition will be improved after 3 years.

 

Moreover, 71% of the respondents believed that Hong Kong people had a responsibility to instigate the development of democracy in China, whereas on the economic aspect, 76% believed that Hong Kong people had such a responsibility. When comparing democracy and economic development, 44% of the respondents believed Hong Kong people should put more effort on instigating the economic development in China, while 24% of the respondents put more weight on the development of democracy. Furthermore, 50% believed that China should emphasize more on her economic development, while 23% believed that China should emphasize more on the development of democracy.

 

Finally, regarding the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China ("the Alliance"), 16% of the respondents said the Alliance should be disbanded, 52% said no. The latest popularity rating of the Alliance was 49.2 marks.

 

With regard to the above results, Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme analyzed as follows: "This is the 12th anniversary survey on June Fourth conducted by POP, people's opinion towards the incident has become fairly stable in recent years. People basically supported a reversion of the official stand on the incident, and said the Central Government made a wrong move at that time. However, most people considered China's human right condition has improved, and were optimistic about its future development. Over 70% considered it Hong Kong people's responsibility to instigate economic and democratic development in China, but more opted for economic development. Probably due to recent political development in Hong Kong, the number of people supporting a reversion of the official stand on the incident, and those against the disbanding of the Alliance, have both climbed to record high after the handover."

 

POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday at 2 pm via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the forthcoming week. We will review and adjust this operation regularly. According to this schedule, the date and time of our next release of regular survey findings will be June 8, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest popularity of CE Tung Chee-Hwa and Principal Officials under the accountability system will be released.

 

Shall anyone have any question regarding the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site, members of the POP Team will be happy to answer them, but we will not further comment on the findings. Shall any person or journalist have any other questions, please email them to us at <[email protected]. The Director of Public Opinion Programme would answer them as soon as possible. We will keep such an arrangement under constant review, suggestions most welcome. Please note that everything carried in the POP Site does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong. Dr Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.