Survey shows that mainland Chinese are unpopular in Hong Kong

Hong Kong residents have negative feelings towards mainland Chinese visitors, while sentiment about Japanese people remains comparatively warm.

A Hong Kong University survey conducted in November last year showed locals negative sentiment towards mainland Chinese was at its highest level for some years, with 31.8% of Hong Kong people having 'negative' feelings for people from mainland China.

The same survey in May put the figure at 35.6%, meaning the average figure for this year was the highest since the exercise began in 2007.

Mainland tourists are an important source of revenue for Hong Kong but they are also seen as straining the city's resources and pushing up prices of items ranging from baby formula to property.

Hong Kong people also complain about what they see as the unrefined social habits of their increasingly affluent mainland counterparts.

More than 1,000 people were interviewed by phone for the survey.

Only 14.9% of those questioned in Hong Kong, which was under harsh Japanese occupation during World War II, harboured negative feelings toward Japanese people in the second half of the year.

However negative feelings towards the Japanese government reached a high point this year - more than 63% in the second half of the year, and 58.8% in the first half.