Responses to Injustice in Popular Chinese Sayings and among Hong Kong Chinese Students

Abstract

Three studies were conducted in an investigation of how people in Chinese societies react to injustice. In Study 1, 293 Chinese sayings concerning injustice coping were subject to content analysis. In Study 2, 10 male and 10 female Hong Kong Chinese high school students indicated whether they had heard of the sayings in Study 1 and whether they agreed with them. In Study 3, 342 Hong Kong Chinese college students reported how they felt and what they did to reduce the injustice feeling they recently came across concerning an injustice. In Study 1, responses to injustices suggested by the Chinese sayings were dominated by cognitive reappraisal and alignment with external, metaphysical forces to maintain the perception of a just world; confrontation was generally discouraged. In Study 2 and Study 3, even among the highly Westernized Hong Kong Chinese students, the pattern of justice coping revealed in the popular sayings still prevailed.