How can we explain the difference in attitudes towards the European Union, the United States, Japan and Russia among Chinese citizens? That is the intriguing question we want to answer in this paper using data from the 2010 ‘Chinese Views of EU’ FP7 research project. The analyses show that Political Image Theory and Political Socialization Theory have most empirical evidence. Images have most effect on attitudes and the respondents themselves say that television - which is heavily controlled by political leaders - is their most important source of information.
