Public relations in China - a decade of rapid growth.

In November 1984, Guangzhou Bai Yun Shan Pharmaceutical Factory set up the first public relations department in any of the state-owned enterprises in mainland China. They allocated one percent of profits for public relations, and as a result, sales and profits of the factory improved rapidly.

This historic event raised the attention of some people, including the Chinese financial newspaper the Economic Daily. It published a news report saying: "...the work of public relations in Guangzhou Bai Yun Shan Pharmaceutical Factory is like a tiger that has grown wings." An editorial in the same December 26, 1984 edition was headlined: "Study the socialist public relations seriously." Two years later, the biggest newspaper in China, the People's Daily, also published the news report and editorial.

So the trend of public relations in China began, according to a report by Yu Jun, editor in the Shanghai office of the Public Relations Society of China. Yu Jun provided the report to Communication World. The edited version follows.

Soon after the concept of public relations entered China, some serious scholars began to undertake academic research on the subject. In November 1984, the Chinese Academy of Social Science, News Research Institute set up a project team specializing in PR. Nine months later it finished its first project ... a book titled: "An Introduction to Public Relations," edited by Dr. Ming Anxiang. It was the first comprehensive academic book on PR in China. Since then more than 100 others have been published.

Additionally, more than 30 various publications exist concerning PR activities in China. Among them are: Public Relations (bi-monthly), edited by China Public Relations Special Committee; and Public Relations Research (semi-monthly), edited by the Shanghai office of the Public Relations Society of China. The former has published 14 issues and is noted for introducing the basic information about PR and for reporting PR activities in and out of China; the latter has published 25 issues and is known for publishing research findings on Chinese PR theory.

Currently more than 20 universities in China offer PR courses and more than 300 institutes and colleges offer courses through some 1,000 teachers. Also, two of China's vocational schools offer PR courses, one in Beijin and one in Hei Longjiang Province.

Shenzheng University in southern China began its special education of PR in 1985. Later, others including Beijin University, Beijin Normal University, Zhongshan University and Fudan University also began offering PR courses.

Since the first Chinese nongovernmental PR organization -- Guangdong Public Relations Club -- set up in January 1986, more than 400 others nationwide have developed. The largest is the Public Relations Society of China, established in May 1987 and headquartered in Beijin. Since 1988 these organizations have held their joint meetings every year. The first was in Hangzhou in December 1988. The second was in Xian in September 1989; the third in Gangzhou in November 1990. At the second joint meeting an important document called "The Professional Moral Norm of Public Relations in China," was released.

At present it is difficult to determine how many PR departments have been set up in businesses in China. But, generally speaking, only a few state-operated enterprises have PR departments, although almost all Sino-foreign joint ventures have such departments to:

* further the objectives of the enterprise;

* organize large-scale propaganda activity;

* subsidize social public good causes;

* assist in marketing the business.

In 1985 Hill and Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller set up subsidiaries in China. Now more than 30 other PR firms nation-wide provide counsel and services in marketing, customer relations and communication for businesses which do not have PR departments of their own.

According to "incomplete statistics, the number of professional staffs of public relations in China was 2,000 in 1987, and was about several thousands in 1990."

Various factions within China argue about the role and value of PR: "Public relations is just as the work of etiquette and reception done by Miss PR and Mr. PR." "Public relations is just like advertising." "Public relations is just as the means of propaganda."

Others argue that since PR is imported from the U.S., the practice and theory of it in China should be first studied in the U.S. Objectors say that rich areas of thought exist in Chinese classical philosophy and folk custom, and that practice and theory of PR in China should thus use traditional Chinese culture as its base.

The generally accepted idea, however, is that the practice and theory of PR in China should fully respect the experience of foreign countries, but that it should also suit the national condition of China. Only under this circumstance will PR make a contribution to Chinese society.