factually reflects survey contents and does not mean that the Author completely
agrees with the relevant survey results.
11.2 Specific Contents and Characteristics of European
Perceptions of China
11.2.1 Feelings About China
Surveys on feelings about China conducted by international public opinion survey
agencies mainly cover the degree of favorability towards China, the evaluation of
China’sinfluence (positive and negative), whether China is a partner or a foe of
Europe, etc. The Pew, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the
UK BBC agencies carried out relevant continuous public opinion surveys. Specific
information is provided below.
11.2.2 The Degree of Europeans’Favorability Towards
China
According to the statistical data from a 2005–2013 survey (Table11.1), the degree
of favorability towards China in large European countries, including the UK,
France, Germany, Spain and Italy, generally declined, while the degree of unfa-
vorability towards China increased; the most striking cases were France and
Germany. The degree of unfavorability towards China in two Central and Eastern
European countries—the Czech Republic and Poland—under survey was generally
higher than the degree of favorability, and the degree of unfavorability stood at a
relatively high level. According to a survey in Southern European countries—
Greece and Italy—in the last two years, the degree of favorability towards China in
Greece was relatively high, while that in Italy was relatively low; Italy was one of
the European countries under survey with the lowest degree of favorability towards
China. On the whole, most European countries under survey had negative feelings
about China; the degree of favorability towards China fell to the lowest level in
2008.
A 10-year follow-up survey conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the
United States also shows similar results (see Tables11.2and11.3^3 ).
(^3) It should be noted that actually the Transatlantic Trends survey was divided into two stages
(2003–2008, 2010–2012); issues involved in the survey were the same, but the ways for raising
questions in them were adjusted somewhat, thus the Author conducted a unified analysis to ensure
its continuity.
11 The Europeans’Perception of China 203