DHAKA: Negative feelings in Hong Kong towards mainland Chinese are at their highest for some years, while sentiment about Japanese people remains comparatively warm, a poll shows.

The Hong Kong University survey conducted in November showed 31.8 percent of Hong Kong people have ‘negative’ feelings for people from mainland China, reports The Straits Times.

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

Hong Kong, a former British colony whose population is overwhelmingly ethnic Chinese, became a semi-autonomous region of China in 1997.

BDST: 1944 HRS, DEC 04, 2013