Page 100 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

FU Caiwu & WANG Wende / “Weak participation” in rural cultural benefiting project 099
and its reform strategy: A survey from 282 administrative villages in 21 provinces across the country

The Austrian economist Rosenstein-Rodan proposed “social overhead capital” and emphasized
the importance of infrastructure development (Rosenstein-Rodan, 1943). With the ageing
population and the increase of health care awareness, the demand for various types of infrastructure
in rural areas such as medical and health care, culture and sports is increasing. Also, high-quality
public facilities and equipment can enhance the sense of utility and satisfaction of residents’
participation in public services. Chunwei Zhang and Chai Yan verified the influence of public
facility support and physical exercise facilities on public satisfaction using older adults in three
urban areas of Beijing (C. W. ZHANG & CHAI, 2013). Accordingly, we proposed the fourth
hypothesis as follows.

Hypothesis 4 (H4). The condition of facilities and equipment of CBP significantly affects the recognition
from rural residents.

The radiation effect of urban areas on rural settlements shows significant regional differences with
spatial structure and mutual distance. Villages closer to towns are driven by the radiation of towns
and tend to have a better economic base and more complete transportation conditions. Villages
farther from towns receive more minor influences from towns, and their infrastructure support is
often inadequate (J. LIU, X. B. JIN, Y. T. FAN, XIANG, RAN, ZHOU, et al., 2018). Through the
analysis of 670 survey data from 214 administrative villages in Shandong Province, Fan Liming
and Luo Yongmin found that the shorter the distance of the village from the county seat, the higher
the satisfaction of farmers with rural infrastructure (L. M. FAN & Y. M. LUO, 2009). On the
other hand, the distance to the town will affect the accessibility; that is, the closer to the city, rural
residents are more convenient to enjoy the better cultural services in the city, which will reduce their
recognition of local cultural projects. Accordingly, we proposed the fifth hypothesis as follows.

Hypothesis 5 (H5). The distance from the administrative village to the urban area significantly affects
the recognition of CBP from rural residents.

Research by Lee and Browne demonstrates that the subjective well-being of rural residents is
related to socio-demographic factors (Lee & Browne, 2008). Factors such as age, education, and
income level constitute rural residents’ individual “cultural capital” and influence their satisfaction
ratings of public goods provision (Y. L. LI & ZENG, 2008; ZHU, TANG, & D. LUO, 2011). Dewi
and Mukti investigated 1,289 samples of urban and rural residents from three Indonesian provinces.
They found that rural residents were more receptive to the National Health Insurance Program (NHI)
implemented by the government than urban residents, and their willingness to accept NHI was
significantly affected by education level, householder’s occupation and family wealth level (Dewi,
Mukti, & Murti, 2014). In addition, other studies have shown that rural residents over 60 and with
higher incomes have higher overall evaluations of preferential agricultural policies (Y.C. WANG,
2012), and the subjective well-being of older or unmarried farmers is higher (BAI & G. B. WU,