Chinese citizens' reactions and perceptions of the local government response to crisis management

To understand how citizens in China assess their local governments’ crisis management capabilities, particularly against the present global health crisis, the Joint Research Centre by Lingnan University and South China University of Technology, conducted a study entitled “Greater Bay Area mainland residents’ evaluation of COVID-19 measures and impression of Hong Kong and Macau” in April 2020. The survey shows that mainland residents in the Great Bay Area (GBA) believe their local governments to be more effective in measures of epidemic prevention compared to the Hong Kong and Macau governments.

The online questionnaire was conducted in early April, and successfully surveyed 1,040 mainland residents aged 18 or above living in the nine mainland cities of GBA (including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing). With 10 being “very good” and 0 representing “not ideal”, the survey invited respondents to give scores to medical staff, their local governments, and the Hong Kong and Macau governments on their performance of epidemic prevention.