Source: China Daily. Tian Chi, Zhang Chengliang, Yang Liu/China Daily

The Internet has become an important channel for the two countries' people to learn about each other. About 86 percent of Chinese interviewees and 74 percent of US respondents said they use online news websites to get information of the other country.

"The Internet and social media, including WeChat, Weibo and Twitter, have become the main channels for the young people of both countries to understand each other, which is why the survey was carried out online," said the survey's operator Liu Peng.

Traditional media represented by newspaper and TV news have played second fiddle for the two peoples in accessing information about the other country, the survey shows.

"Many young Chinese people know the US by watching American TV series, but American youth in the survey show they rarely understand China in this way because few Chinese TV programs are exported," Liu said.

A majority of US people doubt the truthfulness of US films or TV series that show China-related information and mostly negative images of China. Only 4.6 percent of US respondents trust China-related messages shown in US film or TV series, according to the survey.

"This shows that the younger American generation is not affected much by negative coverage of China from big or small screens," Liu said.

Both US and Chinese participants favor the US over China in family income, quality of life, social welfare and self-fulfillment. Family relationships are the only exception where Chinese and US interviewees favored the strength of the Chinese family model.

Nie Ligao contributes to this story.