A Study Of The Impacts Of Sino-korean Intergroup Contact On The Intercultual Attitude Of Chinese College Students

Since 1990 s,“South Korean Fad” swept all over Southeast Asia and was particularly successful in China.Due to the close relation between the two countries,international students from South Korea and students who study or travel in South Korea have risen rapidly.Therefore Chinese young people are experiencing more frequent intercultural contact with South Korean culture,whether through personal encounter or mass media.Allport’s intergroup contact hypothesis stated that direct contact is an effective way to reduce prejudice and improve positive attitudes toward other social groups.Later on,Schiappa et al.(2005)believed that mediated contacts with television characters which represented a typical out-group can yield effects similar to direct contact.Based on the two theories,this study tries to explore the impacts of direct and mass-mediated Sino-Korean intergroup contact on intercultural attitude of the young Chinese people who have been under the influence of “South Korean Fad” for years and meanwhile tests the intergroup contact hypothesis in the Chinese cultural context.The study employed 157 Chinese college students to do questionnaires and 6 interviews to collect relevant data.The results presented that direct and mass-mediated Sino-Korean intergroup contact was found effective in reducing prejudice toward Koreans and anxiety in real or imagined Sino-Korean communications.Thus intergroup contact hypotheses and parasocial contact hypotheses in the Chinese setting were supported.What’s more,Chinese college students who had direct or mass-mediated Sino-Korean intergroup contact generally manifested better intercultural attitude than students without any Sino-Korean intergroup contact,which proved that whether in direct or indirect ways,intergroup contact is a useful way to promote active and positive attitude toward intercultural communication.