More than 90 percent of people think the neo-rich in China have benefited from networking with government officials and 42 percent have a "bad impression" of the group, a recent survey has found.

In the poll, conducted by the People's Daily, "newly rich families" mainly refer to private entrepreneurs, especially owners of newly emerging family firms on the rich list provided by Forbes or Hurun which have attracted great public attention with their surprising speed of accumulating fortunes.

According to the survey, 91 percent of the respondents think all rich families have deep political backgrounds. And 74 percent believe the key to success for these people is "being good at networking with officials" while only 16 percent think "wisdom and hard work of family members" are the reason for their success.