A global survey published Friday showed that China's participation in global governance in the fields of technology, economy and culture was highly recognized overseas.
The country's performance in each of these three fields was praised by more than 50 percent of foreign respondents, according to the 2018 China National Image Global Survey.
The survey, the sixth of its kind since 2012, has been conducted by the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies and the London-based market research firm Kantar.
A total of 11,000 people from 22 countries, aged 18 to 65, took part in the survey from May to July in 2018.
Improved image
The survey showed that China's image continued to improve among developing countries.
The country scored 7.1 out of 10 when it came to its image among developing countries, 0.2 points higher than the previous survey from 2016-2017, it said.
Survey respondents from Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Russia and Indonesia had the best impression of China.
China was highly regarded for its performance in both domestic and global affairs, the survey said.
Popular Chinese proposals
As a new topic surveyed, China's proposal of building a community with a shared future for humanity has been widely acknowledged for its positive impacts.
About 60 percent of the overseas respondents considered the proposal as positive for individuals, countries and global governance.
The proposal's positive impacts on global governance registered the highest rate of acknowledgment, according to the survey.
The Belt and Road Initiative is gaining more overseas popularity, said the survey.
The top five countries with the highest awareness of the initiative were India, Japan, Italy, the Republic of Korea and Russia.
Global contributor
About 60 percent of respondents from developing countries considered China a contributor to global development, 12 percentage points higher than the finding of the last survey.
The most widely agreed upon description of China was "a major Oriental country with a rich history and full of charm."
Overseas respondents said China's 40 years of reform and opening-up had been successful and conducive to global governance, according to the report.
Overseas respondents were also generally positive about China's future development and had confidence in China's economy.
Cultural hallmarks
Overseas respondents believed that Chinese cuisine, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and martial arts were the elements that best represent Chinese culture, a finding consistent with the 2016-2017 survey.
Among them, 55 percent picked Chinese cuisine as a representative of Chinese culture, while nearly 79 percent said they had tried it, 81 percent of whom praised its taste, the survey showed.
TCM and martial arts also stood out as significant representatives of Chinese culture, picked by 50 and 46 percent, respectively.
More people in developed countries thought cuisine the best representative of Chinese culture, while more people in developing countries chose TCM and martial arts, according to the survey.
Compared with young respondents, people aged from 51 to 65 tended to think that Confucius and Confucianism best represent Chinese culture, it said.
