This study investigates external appearances of Chinese and Japanese contemporary architecture by testing Chinese university students. Two stages image tests were given. The object of the image test I is to find out the most suitable buildings of the Image test II. On the other hand, the purpose of the image test II is to examine the relationships among personal preference to buildings, the image of buildings by word association test and the image of buildings represented by elements. According to the results, words and elements which can describe the image and identity of Chinese and Japanese contemporary architecture are limited, and words and elements which have strong influence on the "very Chinese" and the "very Japanese" are extracted.
