WASHINGTON (AFP) — Most people in China are concerned about rising prices, unemployment and labor conditions but have a positive view of the way things are going in their country, a US poll showed Tuesday.
A whopping 96 percent of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan group in Washington, described rising prices as a big problem for the country, with 72 percent saying it was a "very" big problem.
Concerns about unemployment and worker conditions were also extensive despite rapid economic growth in the world's most populous nation, Pew said in the survey report ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.
It also found complaints about corruption widespread, and increasing concern about pollution.
As many as 80 percent thought protecting the environment should be made a priority, even if this resulted in slower growth and potential loss of jobs, Pew said.
"Overall, the Chinese were very satified with the country's direction and economy but in some ways it seems like that they were wrestling with the consequences of economic growth," Richard Wike, associate director of the Pew Research Center, told AFP.
In addition, seven in 10 Chinese polled felt people were better off in a free market even though this meant some might be rich while others were poor.
But at the same time, 89 percent identified the gap between rich and poor in China as a big problem, with 41 percent saying it was a very big problem.
The survey, conducted largely in urban Chinese areas, was based on face-to-face interviews with 3,212 adults between March 28 and April 19, a period which followed the March 10 bloody unrest in Tibet and preceded the May 12 deadly earthquake in Sichuan province.
According to Beijing's official data, China's economic juggernaut has slowed but still maintained double-digit growth -- 10.4 percent -- in the first half of the year as it battled domestic inflation and problems globally.
The consumer price index -- the main gauge of inflation -- rose 7.9 percent in the first half of 2008, with food prices soaring 20.4 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Despite the various concerns, the Pew poll showed more than eight in 10 Chinese had a positive view of the way things were going in their country and with their nation's economy.
"This has been a dramatic improvement in the national mood over the last few years: 86 percent say they are satisfied with the country's direction now, compared with 48 percent in 2002," said the Pew report.
In fact, Pew said, China ranked number one among 24 countries covered by its 2008 global attitudes survey.
"I think that compared to the 23 countries which we surveyed, the Chinese are more satisfied with the way things are going in their country but at the same time, their level of satisfaction about their own lives aren't strikingly high," Wike said.
On their views of the outside world, only 21 percent of Chinese have a favorable opinion of neighbor Japan with 69 percent having an unfavorable opinion, underscoring the longstanding historical animosity between them.
Nearly four in 10 Chinese polled considered Japan an enemy.
The United States was also seen as an enemy by about one in three surveyed while views of India were mixed at best -- 25 percent called the world's second most populous nation a partner and around the same figure saw it as an enemy.
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