The Social Survey Institute of China asked 1,000 residents of major Chinese cities last week for their opinions on Japan's approval of a controversial middle school history textbook. 

In results released on Monday, 93 percent of the respondents said that the Japanese government had "distorted history gravely," while 96 percent said that "such action had severely hurt the Chinese people's feelings and constituted an insult to the Chinese people."

About 81 percent of those surveyed agreed that Japan's action was an "open provocation" and "a crime committed against world peace and harmony." Ninety-seven percent demanded the Japanese government "make a thorough retrospection" of the country's aggressive past and apologize.

The survey was conducted by telephone in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shenyang.

China holds that the textbooks approved on April 5 distort the truth about Japan's invasion of China and the atrocities committed by Japanese troops during World War II.

The offending textbook states that the Lugou Bridge (also known as the Marco Polo Bridge) Incident in north China on July 7, 1937, which marked the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), was triggered by China.

It also challenged the validity of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, during which Japanese troops murdered more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers after capturing the city.

Following the book's approval, demonstrations erupted in some major Chinese cities over the weekend.

A Japanese government spokesman said Monday that Japan will seek diplomatic dialogue with China to improve the bilateral relationship. 

"It (China) is a neighboring country, so diplomacy is very important and miscommunication should not grow between us," Kyodo News Service quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda as saying.

"We want to deal with the development through close exchange of opinions," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2005)