As many as 70 percent of Chinese men have intimate female friends, Yangtze Evening News reported.

Among all the provinces, Sichuan tops the list as 74 percent of men have close female friends.

Despite their toughness, men have a need to confide their feelings, the paper said, quoting Gong Haiyan, the head of Jiayuan.com, the website that conducted the survey and also China's leading online dating site.

At the same time, more than 60 percent of women said they have close male friends.

The survey also said women tend to be more jealous of the intimate friends of their spouses.