Islands dispute hammers attitudes (3)

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This year, the poll, conducted in June and July, included 1,540 Chinese in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang and Xi'an, 200 of the social elite from around the country and 802 university students and teachers at five top Beijing universities.

In Japan, 1,000 adults and 805 intellectuals, mostly with experience of China, were interviewed.

The attitudes of intellectuals in both nations are more moderate, with 52.8 percent of the Chinese group and 36.3 percent of the Japanese seeing each other in a positive way.

The biggest reason for the negative attitude is the Diaoyu Islands, with 53.2 percent of ordinary Japanese choosing it in the multiple-choice question. The number of Chinese dissatisfied over the issue has nearly doubled, from 39.8 percent last year to 77.6 percent this year.

The second major reason for Chinese dislike of Japan is that "Japan has not sincerely apologized for its aggression against China". That corresponds with the second reason for Japanese dislike of China: "Chinese criticism of Japan over historical issues".

When asked about Japan, the most common first thought among Chinese is now the Diaoyu Islands, overtaking "electronic products".

The most common answer among Japanese toward China is still Chinese food, although one-third chose the Diaoyu Islands issue and another third chose air pollution.

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