CHINESE
MANDARIN
Anecdotal Evidence of Listening
Since no reliable audience surveys have so far been possible in China,
evidence of listening to the BBC in Chinese is, of necessity, circumstantial.
Where listeners' letters are concerned, it is worth noting that there have
been two sudden and dramatic increases in the volume of mail from China in
recent years.
The first was in 1978, at the end of the Cutural Revolution.
The second was immediately following the opening of the new East Asia Relay
Station in Hongkong at the end of September 1987, bringing a greatly improved
reception in Northern, North-Eastern and Central China. Letters jumped almost
overnight from some 1700 a month to around 5,000 a month, and although the
flow slowed down somewhat in 1988, it was still averaging between three and four thousand a month throughout the year.
It could well be that following the suppression of the Student
Democracy Movement in China in June of this year and the subsequent attacks
by the Chinese government on foreign radio stations, the volume of listeners'
letters will drop significantly in the coming months. The evidence is,
however, that since the start of the Students' Movement there has been a
massive and spectacular increase both in awareness of the BBC in China
and in listening to the BBC Chinese Service Programmes, not only in Peking
and Shanghai but throughout the country. This has been attested to time and
time again by correspondents in Peking for Western Newspapers and News agencies,
while the BBC's team of correspondents covering the events of May and June
were amazed at the response they got on the streets, not only from students
and intellectuals, but also from taxi-drivers, workers and ordinary people. There is photographic evidence of a banner being carried in the early stages.
of the demostrations saying "Thank You BBC". Students were seen with headbands
emblazoned "BBC". Tapes of BBC Chinese Service broadcasts were played on loudspeakers in University campuses in Peking and elsewhere. Wall-posters
carrying BBC reports were seen in a number of cities, being read avidly by
ordinary people.
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