Chinese say corruption among officials is No 1 problem

Chinese citizens say corruption among officials, environmental pollution and rising income inequality are their country' top three problems, according to a survey released on Thursday.

More than 80 percent of 3,649 Chinese adults surveyed by the US-based Pew Research Center listed corrupt officials as the country's biggest problem, the data showed. Nearly three quarters of the respondents said air and water pollution and an increasing gap between rich and poor were the next biggest issues.

At least 70 percent of respondents said that the safety of medicine and food, the quality of manufactured goods, rising prices and crime need to be tackled. Other top concerns include health care, corrupt business people, education, conditions for workers, traffic and unemployment.

As for problematic issues improving over the next five years, more than 63 percent of respondents said they believed that corruption problems would get better, but only 43 percent were optimistic about improvements to food safety.

The concerns expressed in the survey show Chinese public awareness of the negative side effects from China's remarkable economic growth, including the loss of their traditional way of life in exchange for the modern, consumption-driven lifestyle, the authors of the Pew survey wrote.

Despite slowing economic growth in China, 72 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with their personal economic situation, and 77percent said they believe their family is better off now than five years ago.

Nearly all respondents (96 percent) said their current standard of living is better than that of their ancestors.

In Beijing and Shanghai, China's two largest cities, pessimism about air quality is widespread, with 53 percent of Beijing and Shanghai residents saying that air pollution will get worse by 2020.

The survey was done by face-to-face interviews from April 15 to May 27 with a nationally representative random sample of Chinese adults.

jackfreifelder@chinadailyusa.com