BEIJING -- As Chinese university students return to campuses after months of school suspensions due to the COVID-19 epidemic, most say they value their relationships with their teachers more than ever.

According to a survey of over 2,000 university students, published in Thursday's China Youth Daily, about 78.8 percent of students have plans to visit their teachers while they are back.

The newspaper report quoted a student in North China's Hebei province as saying that he found his bonds with teachers to be especially precious during the epidemic.

A student in Central China's Hunan province told the newspaper that she had missed her teachers and classmates during her school's closure, and she plans to send her teachers greeting messages on Teachers' Day, which falls on Thursday.

Over 40 percent of respondents said that cherishing their bonds with teachers and classmates would be an important theme in their studies and lives on campus this semester.