Atom Survey and Xianzai.com, both subsidiaries of BDL Media Ltd., today announced the results of a survey conducted to gauge sentiments of expatriates working in China on China's work and living environment.

The survey was conducted online in English and results compiled from December 5-20 with a total of 450 non-Chinese respondents who work and live in Mainland China. A "non-Chinese respondent" was characterized by an individual who has held a non-Chinese passport for more than 10 years and is currently living in China on a Z-class visa for at least two years already when participating in the survey.

45% of the respondents hold European passports from countries like United Kingdom, Demark, France, Germany, and Spain having the highest percentages; 35% hold North American passports with the United States and Canada having the highest percentages; 12% hold Asian passports with Singapore and Hong Kong having the highest number of respondents; and the remaining 8% of respondents come from other world regions.

55% of the respondents live in Beijing, 35% live in Shanghai, and the remaining respondents live primarily in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces.

For the respondents living in Beijing, the biggest headaches they daily face are Beijing traffic, Internet connectivity, and pollution problems. 83% of the respondents say that Beijing's traffic problems have increased since they first came to work in Beijing. 89% say that they often can not visit websites that are important for them to conduct business or complete work-related tasks. 72% say that Beijing's pollution problems have stayed the same or worsened since they began working in Beijing.

For respondents living in Shanghai, only 40% say that Shanghai's traffic has stayed the same or worsened since they came to work in Shanghai. 56% say that they often can not visit websites that are important for them to conduct business or complete work-related tasks. 72% say that Shanghai's pollution has stayed the same or worsened since they first came to the city for work.

When asked to rank what they like most about the cities in which they live, expatriates living in Beijing ranked "Culture and History" first, followed by "Cuisine" and "Schools for Children", respectively. For expatriates living in Shanghai, there was similar sentiment.

73% of the respondents characterize themselves as "expats" who are hired overseas to come work in China. 19% characterize themselves as "halfpats" who were already living or working in China when they were hired by their current employer.

The average annual salary for all the respondents was US$78,540, not including housing allowances or work-related bonuses. The average annual salary for those who considered themselves expats was US$86,500; the average annual salary for halfpats was US$52,100. All the respondents were chosen because they hold managerial positions in their companies.

18% of the respondents say that they can conduct business negotiations in spoken Mandarin Chinese. 63% say that they can hold a simple conversation in Mandarin with Chinese colleagues.

Atom Survey conducted this survey as a quarterly marketing analysis for Xianzai.com. The respondents are all subscribers to Xianzai.com's email newsletters. The full results are part of Xianzai.com's materials which are distributed to clients.

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