Beijing: About 90 per cent of Chinese believe the widening polarisation between the rich and poor is 'serious' in the country and a majority blamed it on 'group of special interests' for their plight.

More than 80 per cent of the respondents surveyed said something must be done to narrow the expanding gap between the rich and poor, while 14.1 per cent said it was unnecessary.

The widening rich-poor gap has aroused wide concern among the public in recent years.

While the white collars in Beijing are planning a New Year trip to Hong Kong or Thailand, many others are trying to scrimp and save and worrying about increasing costs in medical care and food.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the top planning body said the Gini Coefficient, a measure of income inequality, had reached 0.47 for China, up from 0.29 two decades ago.

Usually, a country with a ratio exceeding 0.4 is warned to pay more attention to the inequality issue.

To find out the people's view, the survey conducted by China Youth Daily and Sina.Com covered 10,250 respondents, between the ages of 20 and 30 with a college education and a monthly salary between 1,000 and 3,000 yuan (120 US dollars to 360 US dollars).

Surprisingly, most disagreed with the view of experts who claim the urban-rural disparity is causing the widening gap.