Chinese audiences with lower education and income levels prefer to watch Korean and Taiwanese television dramas, according to a survey made by a local Korean research group.

The research conducted by the group of Jiang Ming Qiu, professor of media information in Seoul National University, involved interviews with 400 Beijing residents aged 20-50.

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Based on their findings, which were published in a paper titled "Chinese Audiences' Consumer Taste Guide of TV Dramas", Chinese audiences who like Korean dramas tend to be low-income and lowly educated.

It said this demographic liked Korean dramas because they can understand the emotions depicted in those dramas without having to think a lot.  High-income and highly educated people, on the other hand, prefer to watch American or Japanese drama.

The research indicates that the survey participants also watch TV dramas produced by mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, along with dramas produced in Japan, Korea and the U.S. It provided statistical support to the decline in popularity of Korean Dramas in mainland China in recent years.

Jung-Sun Park, professor at California State University, says in his book, "Korea at the Center: Dynamics of Regionalism in Northeast Asia", that the most fans of Korean drama in China are females between 20-30 years old. 

However, actual trends tend to show that Chinese fans of Korean dramas may span a wider age range - from teenagers to 70-80 year old elders. 

This is because close family ties are still prevalent in China, and young people tend to be with older family members who guide them through the traditional Confucian moral and cultural values when watching television dramas.