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(Title of the Thesis)* Slow Food in China: An Exploratory Study by Nanxi Yan A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Recreation and Leisure Studies Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2015 © Nanxi Yan 2015 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract The Slow Food movement, since 1985, has been drawing more and more western people‘s attention to ‗good, clean, and fair‘ food standards and the preservation of local culture and businesses (Slow Food, 2014). The idea has been introduced to China for over ten years, and the movement has been spread to four big cities in the country. However, there exists very limited research about this movement‘s development. To fill in the knowledge gap, this thesis aims to explore how far the Slow Food movement has reached in China by analyzing Chinese Slow Food event attendees, and to provide some practical suggestions for Slow Food event organizers for their future event planning. By distributing self-administrated questionnaires to Chinese Slow Food event attendees in Beijing, China, from September 5th to October 10th, the researcher has collected a total of 221 valid questionnaires. Both univariate and multivariate analysis have been conducted to analyze these quantitative data. Generally speaking, the finding reveals that respondents who came to these events were mainly motivated by the excitement and food of the event. In terms of satisfaction, respondents, as a whole, were fairly satisfied with those events attended by them. The results also indicate that respondents‘ socio-demographic characteristics (e.g. gender, marital status and household income), their motivation, and their personal values, their food involvement level, all have affected their degree of satisfaction with Slow Food events. In regard to the acceptance level of the movement, most respondents were highly agreed that the Slow Food movement is important to Chinese people, and it should be known by more people in China. In addition, based on data iii collected, the researcher has also put forward some practical suggestions for Slow Food event organizers at the end of research. iv Acknowledgements I would first and foremost to thank my supervisor Professor Stephen Smith for sharing his pearls of wisdom with me during my research. Steve has been a tremendous mentor for my academic journey. He has been very open-minded to my various kinds of ideas and he has given me invaluable encouragements, guidance and feedbacks. I learnt a lot from my supervisor on how to do high quality research. I also learnt from him on how to be a generous and responsible person. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Steven Mock and Professor Sanjay Nepal, who gave me valuable suggestions on this research. I really appreciate Steven for introducing me the Schwartz‘s theory of basic values, which shortened my tedious survey and make my research more meaningful. I feel grateful to Sanjay for challenging me to think deeper about my topic and encouraging me to solve problems in different ways. Most importantly, I want to express my special appreciation to my parents for their endless patience, understanding and encouragements. Both of my parents are kind-hearted, smart, and generous people, they are my role models who impetus me to become a better person. I would also like to thank my significant other, YZ. For me, he is an extremely smart mathematician, data scientist, technical supporter, and soul mate. His support was a great encouragement for me to go through the journey. Finally, I want to thank all my Recreation and Leisure Studies department‘s friends. Thank you so much for making my experience in Canada so memorable. I really learnt a lot from you all. v Table of Contents Author‘s Declaration ..................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... v List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. ix List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. x Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Purpose Statement and Research Goal .......................................................................................... 4 1.2. Research Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Contribution of the Study .............................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................................................ 6 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2. Introduction to the Slow Food Movement ..................................................................................... 6 2.3. The Development of Slow Food Movement ................................................................................. 8 2.4. The Snail in the World: Slow Food in Different Countries ......................................................... 10 2.5. The Food Trends in China ........................................................................................................... 14 2.6. The Food Issues in China ............................................................................................................ 17 2.7. The Ongoing Value Changes....................................................................................................... 20 2.8. Motivations .................................................................................................................................. 22 2.9. Satisfaction of Event Attendees................................................................................................... 26 2.10. The Tourism Product ................................................................................................................... 30 2.11. Personal Values ........................................................................................................................... 32 2.12. Food Involvement........................................................................................................................ 33 Chapter 3: Research Method ....................................................................................................................... 35 3.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 35 3.2. Research Questions .......................................................................................................................... 35 3.3. Operationalization of Variables ........................................................................................................ 35 3.3.1. Social-demographic Variables ................................................................................................... 35 3.3.2. Attendees Motivations ............................................................................................................... 36 3.3.3. Attendees‘ Level of Satisfaction ............................................................................................... 37 3.3.4. Attendees‘ Acceptance Level of the Slow Food Movement ..................................................... 38 3.3.5. Attendees Food Involvement Level ........................................................................................... 38 vi 3.3.6. Attendees‘ Personal Values ....................................................................................................... 39 3.4. Research Design ............................................................................................................................... 40 3.4.1. The Study location: China ......................................................................................................... 40 3.4.2. The Study Population and Sampling Frame .............................................................................. 40 3.4.3. Sampling Technique .................................................................................................................. 40 3.5. Data Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 43 3.5.1. Testing the Reliabilities of the Study‘s Scales .................................................................... 44 Chapter 4: Research Findings.....................................................................................................................
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