Most mainland Chinese can't name their own mayor, poll finds

Only a third of mainlanders know the name of their mayors, but more than half would vote for them if free elections were held, a survey of about 6,300 people in 30 major cities has found.

Nearly 52 per cent of those surveyed said the incumbent mayors would have their support in a direct election, but only 32 per cent could name their mayors, the Horizon Research Consultancy poll found.

It polled permanent residents aged between 18 and 60 in all the four municipalities directly under the central government - Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing - and all provincial or regional capitals except Lhasa in January.

It found that in all cities except for Shanghai, Chongqing and Nanjing , the percentage of people supporting the mayor was higher than the percentages of people who knew who the mayor was.

Chen Yongmiao, a Beijing-based lawyer and political commentator, said the findings implied that mainlanders tended to mind their own business as long as the authorities did not disrupt their lives.

"As long as the authorities don't arrest them or impose overly high taxes, they would pursue a peaceful, safe social order," Chen said, adding that such political indifference was also tied to the suppression of freedom of speech and demonstrations.

Sheng Guangyao, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, said the existing performance-appraisal system for mayors could partly explain why they were so little known to residents.