Conference :: Zheng, Z., Juan, X., Wu, X., Kang, C., & Anderson, D. (2007). Chinese visitors' perceptions of science museum experiences: The contrast between Sino and Western world views and practices. 20th Annual Visitor Studies Association Conference. Columbus, OH: Visitor Studies Association.

last updated: 2008-05-09 14:51:30

Abstract

Visitors’ conceptions about museums and their in-gallery behavioral characteristics are phenomena that have been systematically explored and are increasingly well understood in many western cultural contexts. This study demonstrates that the perceptions and behaviors of the Chinese museum visitor are in some ways quite different to that of Western visitors. Two independent research studies of the BNU-UBC Museums Research Collaborative investigated the perceptual views and self-reported behavioral practices of Chinese students and parents respectively. Study 1 considered (n=1373) grade 5, 8 and 11 students drawn from major cities of China, each stratified by 4 major regions according to different socio-economic levels, while Study 2 considered (n=2056) parents from the Beijing region of China. The two studies adopt a phenomenological approach to understanding Chinese conception, perception and practice relating to science museum visitation using self-administered questionnaires. Four key perceptual views and self-reported behavioral practices were identified. First, visitation to museums as part of organized school field trip or school outings occurs much less frequently than does visitation to the museum as part of a family group. This is highly consistent with the large gulf that exists between the formal school-based education systems and the museums in China, and corroborating of other studies that demonstrate Chinese teachers do not consider that the museum usefully supports the school curriculum, but rather, museums are considered the domain of a family experience. Second, both students and parents dominantly perceived science museums to be places for Education and Knowledge more than they consider them to be places for Entertainment or a Social Outing. This finding is opposite the conventional western understandings of visitors’ perception and must be understood against the context of the Chinese education system and the strong desire of Chinese parents to provide their children learning experiences that will give them a competitive edge in an education system that values knowledge gains above other aspects of learning. Third, the perception that the science museum experience is more about education and knowledge (or learning) appears to decrease as a function of education level of parents, i.e., the higher the educational level of the parents the more likely they are to perceive the museum as a place of entertainment or socialization. We speculate that parents with the higher education level have a more realistic appreciation of the function of museums. Finally, parents claims about their behavioral practices in museums suggest that while they perceive the museum to be dominantly a place for Education and Knowledge, they encourage and foster their children to engage in high levels of social interactions with other children and adults in the museums. This is quite different from the western contexts where there is developing an increasingly high degree of child protectionism and private-ism, and can be understood against the backdrop of China’s one child only social policy, and the desire to provide opportunities for socialization.

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