BEIJING -- Improving social integrity is in dire need, as China is turning from an acquaintances society into a society of strangers, said a comment piece in the People's Daily Monday.

The country's flagship newspaper also urged honesty and faithfulness in government and enterprises, in a bid to pave the way for interpersonal trust and promote the value of integrity among the whole of society.

The article quoted recent survey on social mentality, which showed that Chinese society has seen a dramatic decline of social integrity, with more than 70 percent of respondents saying they could not trust strangers.

The survey was conducted by the Institute of Sociology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on more than 1,900 residents from seven cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

According to the survey, commerce and enterprise ranked at the lowest level in terms of credibility.

The comment said China is turning from an acquaintances society into a society of strangers, which is the primary reason for the decline of social integrity.

The article noted that the transformation is unavoidable during the country's process of urbanization.

However, the increasingly trust crisis will "freeze" mutual-trust warmth among people, the comment said.

It said that relevant laws or regulations should be enacted or improved in order to severely punish the faithless and raise the cost of losing credit.

It added that creating sound conditions for people's communication should also be considered to resolve the problems that the strangers society is facing now.