A new study, considered by experts as the first to accurately document and report on the corporate social responsibility activities of all kinds of companies in China, private and public, has concluded that the country's overall quality of CSR development remains what researchers described as "relatively low".

The Research Center for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences studied the activities of 100 companies and found that just four had reached a level it considered worthy of "five stars", with scores over 80 on a 100 scale.

The average level of quality was a worrying "two stars", with a score at 25.2.