China started a survey last week in order to gather information on the release of city people's joyfulness index in eight cities across China. In Beijing, about 5,000 citizens have participated in it by phone. Related research has also been launched online, the China Youth Daily reported.

This is the first time that China has launched a research on the release of city people's joyfulness index. The cities are large metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and second- and third-tier cities like Taiyuan, Chengdu, Guilin and Weihai. In doing the survey, the organizers first divide the interviewees into different groups based on their ages. The research will be done in various forms, including random surveys on streets, questionnaires, group discussions, face-to-face talks and experts consultancy. The information will be analyzed by common practices and internationally recognized methods and the final result will be published by the end of October. It is estimated that about 300,000 people will participate in the survey.

Earlier, some research organizations had issued the Chinese people's happiness index. The two indexes are different in that the city people's joyfulness index aims to reflect people's state of mind and their feelings about life for a short period. Such feelings are more of people's individual feelings based on every person's own preferences or life values. It tells how a person or a particular group of people in society feel about their life in a particular environment in a particular period.

(Chinanews October 9, 2007)