personal preference art : Attitudes Toward Arts and Artists:

In the previous measurement of the importance of art in the lives of the public, art is represented by its basic elements, such as design and color, and used in the sense that art exists everywhere in people's daily lives. When gauged by a more conventionally and narrowly defined concept of art, two distinctive features of the public attitudes toward art and artists exist parallel to each other. On the one hand, the public knowledge of artists and their attendance of art galleries remain extremely low, A total of 81% of respondents go to museums less than once a year, and cannot recognize the names of such well-known artists as Monet and Rembrandt. On the other hand, the general public has strong views and decided opinions on what they consider to be good art. Nearly one in two respondents say that their personal preferences rather than the fame of artists are the determining factor for them to choose works of art. They like the artworks that make people happy and relaxing. They agree that a work of art can be beautiful even if it does not resemble anything in the real world.

The favorable and supportive attitudes toward art are further manifested by the fact that twice as many people say that they would rather receive a piece of art than a sum of money as a gift. A majority of Chinese are willing to spend 50 to about 200 yuan, an equivalent of 1/6 to 1/2 of a worker's monthly income, on a piece of art. As high as 67% of respondents say that they will encourage their child if he or she wanted to become an artist, even though most Chinese restrain themselves from readily supporting their child to marry an artist.

http://www.diacenter.org/km/chi/chi.html