Chinese urban youth lose French passion: Poll

Young Chinese no longer hold a romantic view of France but they are still confident of future Sino-French relations, a recent survey has found.

The survey, which polled 4,303 Chinese aged between 18 and 29 in 10 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, found that 60 percent of the urbanites remained neutral or had a negative perception of the current state of Sino-French relations.

The poll, conducted by the Horizon Research Consultancy Group and the center for European studies of Fudan University in April and May, was one of the latest efforts to assess the attitude of young Chinese toward France following disruptions of the Beijing Olympic torch relay in Paris by Tibetan separatists.