Passengers pose for a photo while taking on the new railway, built by Chinese companies, linking Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the port of Djibouti on October 5, 2016. [Photo: 163.com]

The influence of China is growing rapidly in African countries and the overall response is positive, according to a recent polling by Afrobarometer, a well-known polling institute in the continent.

The polling took investigators a year after interviewing 54,000 people from 36 African countries. The investigation report was put as a headline on the official website of Afrobarometer on October 24.

Sixty-three percent of the interviewees think China had a positive impact in their country, the report shows. It adds that over two-thirds of the interviewees think economic activities, especially investment, is a key element in building and improving the image of China among the citizens in Africa. Further, the assistance and support from China to the development of Africa also won praise from local people with an overall 54 percent of positive reviews and the number reached 65 percent in central Africa and 64 percent in west Africa.

In the meantime, the report notes that the poor quality of some Chinese products and the concern over Chinese people taking away job opportunities from the locals have become the major reasons behind the negative reviews.

The development mode of China also gained recognition from African people with 24 percent of them giving positive reviews. And people in Cameroon, Sudan and Mozambique have the highest percentage of positive reviews on China's development in Africa, according to the report.