Shanghai’s economy made further progress on October/2009 as a result of continued strong growth in local consumer spending and investment, while exports also improved to help strengthen a growing recovery. Read More…
TV screens in China last year were bombarded with “mainstream” or tribute-style political and patriotic TV series. Unlike most previously released mainstream TV, which lost ground to popular overseas and commercially-produced local series, last year’s shows have attracted a substantial number of viewers due to their diverse and interesting content, modern production techniques and more natural acting approach. Read More…
When Rob Belgiovane set out from his Australian agency for the China Ad Festival in Nanning, he expected to fly into a small town near the Vietnamese border. Instead, he found himself in a city the size of New York that remains largely unknown to Westerners. And the sprawling metropolis was a dramatic example of the wide open market for retailers and agencies that China has become. Read More…
China’s only national TV broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV), held its annual auction on Nov. 18 for ad spots during 2010 prime-time programming as well as title sponsorships for key programs such as CCTV’s Chinese New Year gala, nightly weather reports and special events like World Cup coverage. Read More…
China announced a 5.7 percent increase in electricity prices for businesses and industries and said it will adjust residential tariffs early next year through a new pricing mechanism to promote energy savings. Read More…
As of the end of August 2009, 181 million Chinese netizens were using mobile phones as wireless Internet access terminals and this number is steadily increasing, according to a report jointly issued by China Internet Network Information Center and CR-Nielsen. Read More…
Annual disposable income for residents in Shanghai during the first three quarters of this year reached 21,871 yuan (US$3,200) per person, which is 8 percent more than last year, according to latest figures from the Shanghai Statistics Bureau. Read More…
In 2007, China’s total tourism revenue reached 1,09 trillion yuan (over 148 million US dollars), exceeding one trillion yuan for the first time. China now has one of the largest tourism markets in the world, said Wang Zhifa, deputy director of Chinese National Tourism Administration.
By the end of 2007, China had 18,000 travel agencies, 13,000 star-rated hotels and over 20,000 Scenic Spots. The number of undergraduate students majoring in tourism reached 730,000; the direct tourism practitioner were more than 10 million and the indirect tourism practitioner were over 49 million.
A large-scaled modern tourism industry with solid-foundation has been preliminarily established.
Due to rising income and improved salaried vacation system, China’s total tourist arrivals reached 1,783 million in 2007.
Meanwhile, the tourist flow between January and July in 2008 increased by 2% than the same period of last year.
China has world’s largest domestic tourism market. The inbound tourism and the outbound tourism both get a well development. The number of inbound tourists rose from 1,809,000 person-time in 1978 to 132 million person-time in 2007 with the foreign exchange earnings from tourism increasing by 159 times.
China’s first national digital publishing base opened in the Shanghai’s Zhangjiang High-Tech Park recently.
The venture is a cooperation between the General Administration of Press and Publication of China and the Shanghai’s municipal government.
Officials said they plan to build up well-known brands of digital publications at the Zhangjiang National Digital Publishing Base.
The center aims to own intellectual property for digital publications and attract the world’s most advanced technology.
Digital publishing covers database services, online education platforms, electronic books, network games and online music download services.
Since Zhangjiang has already attracted many digital and information technology companies, it was the ideal base to help foster development of the new industry in China, according to Jiao Yang, director of the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau.
Major press groups such as Shanghai Century Publication Co, Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group and Shanghai Print Group will soon enter the base. Hong Kong Star Group Co, listed in Hong Kong, will move its headquarters, innovation and design departments there.
Pudong New Area Government will appropriate 50 million yuan (US$7.34 million) a year from 2008 to 2011 to support construction and development of the base.
Preferential policies on tax and finance will be offered to companies settling in the base.
According to official statistics, the city’s network game companies realized sales of 6.37 billion yuan (around 1 billion US dollars) last year, an increase of 68 percent from the previous year. Digital publishing, including online paid reading, music downloads and network games, has grown more than 30 percent over the previous year.
