Exploring The Characteristics And Influencing Mechanisms Of Middle-class Leisure Participation In Guangzhou Under The Impact Of COVID-19 Pandemic

Leisure is indicative of the urban quality,and the overall lifestyle of its residents.The improvement of people-oriented urban quality of urban life is an essential component of the current nationwide new-type urbanization initiative,therefore,leisure is an important avenue to promote the new urbanization and fulfill individuals’ expectations for a superior quality of life.The deep transformation of urban social economics and the reconstruction of urban spaces in China continuously leads to social stratification,with the steadily growing middle class becoming a significant force for urban economic development and social stability.This has a profound impact on urban spaces and social economic structures.As the middle class enjoys relatively affluent material conditions and a yearning for high-quality life,leisure has evolved into an indispensable part of their lives.The middle class has thus become a critical supporter of the urban leisure industry.Consequently,exploring the characteristics,motivations and constraints of middle-class leisure participation will enable the provisoning of targeted l eisure products and services,tailored to their preferences,while deeply tapping into the potential of their leisure consumption,thus catalyzing the city’s social and economic vitality.It is also imperative that China leverage its advantage of possessing a super-large-scale market and domestic demand potential to promote the domestic economic cycle.However,there have been a paucity of research into the daily behavior of the middle class,with scholars showing scant attention towards middle-class leisure participation.The emergence of Covid-19 pandemic has brought about novel changes to residents’ lives,which has,to some extent,inevitably influenced the leisure participation of the middle class.This study takes the middle class in Guangzhou as an example.Based on the survey data of middle-class leisure behavior in Guangzhou,a descriptive statistical analysis and a structural equation modeling approach were employed to scrutinize,the characteristics of middle-class leisure participation and to dissect the motivations and constraints mechanisms concerning their participation in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.The research results show that:(1)Remarkable differences exist in terms of the time,space,type,consumption and companionship of leisure p articipation within the middle class.On the whole,the leisure time on workdays is relatively low,while on the rest days,it is the opposite.The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increase in leisure time,yet significant disparities are evident within the middle class.The leisure space is generally characterized by being close to home.On workdays,leisure activities take place primarily at home or within the community,whilst on rest days,leisure activities expand outwards and become more widespread.The main types of leisure participation on workdays are sports and entertainment,followed by knowledge-based leisure.All types of leisure participation are increased on rest days,with the most dramatic change being in the recreational leisure.Leisure consumption generally remains high,with significant divergences in income,age,gender and occupation.Family members are the primary leisure companions,followed by solitary leisure and leisure with friends.The middle class with diverse ages,genders and the number of children have discrepancies in the choice of leisure companions.(2)The leisure motivation and constraint mechanism of middle-class leisure participation,under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic come into play.The leisure motivation of the middle class inclines to curtail the constraints and endorse the leisure participation.Intrinsic motivation surpasses extrinsic motivation as a means of decreasing the restriction and increasing the participation Leisure constraints hinders the middle-class leisure participation.The stronger the leisure constraint is,the lower the level of the middle class’ s participation in leisure activities is,and the personal internal constraint constitute the most substantial constrainting factor.The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on daily leisure has intensified the leisure motivation,mitigated the leisure constraints and boosted the leisure participation of the middle class.Consequently,based on the above research,it is recommended that in order to maximally harness the optimistic influence of the middle class and amplify the vitality of urban leisure economy,the middle class should be guided to establish encouraging leisure values,hone and implement leisure skills,devise modernized models of home-based leisure and community-based leisure through scientific and technological innovation of leisure products and services,coordinate challenging and intellectual leisure activities to stimulate the leisure motivation of the middle class.At the same time,improv ing the quality of leisure services,exploiting big data to direct traffic logically and avoid crows areas,as well as setting up the recreational clubs and other organizations could enable the middle class to find companions,alleviate the constraints on leisure experienced by the middle class,bolster the leisure participation of the middle class,and stoke the potential and vitality of urban leisure economy.