The more than 4 million Chinese families with million dollar assets in 2008 will reach 7.8 million in 2013, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published recently. Read More…

China’s urban population surged to 607 million with an urbanization rate of 45.7 percent at the end of 2008, a social researcher revealed recently. Read More…

In the first half of June/2009, China’s average daily power generation capacity was 9.764 billion kilowatt-hours, down 0.17 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC). In May, the nation’s average daily power generation capacity dropped around 3.5 percent year-on-year. Read More…

6 in every 10,000 people in China have a personal wealth of more than 10 million yuan ( nearly 1.5 million US dollars), shows the recently issued “Hurun Wealth Report 2009”. After the report came out, it immediately raised a lot of doubts among netizens: “Have Chinese people really become so rich?” Read More…

Membership for what is being touted as the country’s first private helicopter club will open soon. The club is affiliated to a private heliport opened in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, under the Ruohang Transportation Development Co. “Our membership plan will be formally made known to the public this weekend and its initial terms for receiving application will be mainly targeted at those interested in flying or wanting to buy helicopters,” Lu Yong, the executive director of Ruohang, told China Daily recently. Read More…

Beijing registered 65,970 new motor vehicles in the first 45 days of 2009, with a daily increase of 1,466, according to the municipal traffic authority. That brought the total number of automobiles in the city to 3.56 million as of February/2009, according to figures from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. Read More…

The annual trade volume of China’s online shopping market in 2008 surpassed the amount of 100 billion yuan (over 14 billion US dollars) for the first time, totaling 120 billion yuan, up by 128.5 percent year on year. Compared with the previous year, the growth rate rose by nearly 40 percentage points.

The data come from the “2008 China Online Shopping Research Report” , jointly published by iResearch Consulting Group, a domestic polling organization, and taobao.com.

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Shanghai topped the country’s online shopping cities with a total volume of 16.5 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in 2008, and yearly spending online was 2,200 yuan per capita, according to the latest report on online shopping. The report also shows that, in 2008, the number of registered online shoppers in China increased by 185 percent from the previous year, reaching 120 million customers.

Analysts say that China’s online shopping market breaking the 100 billion yuan threshold is the sign that online shopping has already become an important component of the nation’s retail market.

The total volume of online shopping in China reached a record high of over 120 billion yuan in 2008, up 128.5 percent over 2007.

“E-business has become a vital part of the retail world, and large cities, like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen that dominate the offline retail world also lead the pack online,” said Liu Zheng, senior consultant from Beijing-based SDR Consulting Company.

“It is also notable that the second and third tier cities such as in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces have become the major growing areas for online shoppers,” he added. “More than 70 percent of users of Taobao.com are from those second and third tier areas.”

Male online shoppers outnumber women, accounting for 55 percent. Electronic products are the main consumption choice among male shoppers, the report said.

Despite the proximity of several large shopping malls, 27-year-old Shanghai resident Xiao Gao said she prefers shopping on the Internet.

“Online shopping has increasingly become a mainstream lifestyle, and I purchase products or services online at least once a week,” she said. “Low price is the chief consideration.”

“It’s kind of life support that can reduce the traffic driving to those stores,” she added. “I am making online shopping a habit and spending more.”

“Shoppers across the country are increasingly turning to the Internet for the variety, value and convenience that it offers,” Liu Zheng said.

“Online sales will continue to gain momentum as the economic depression period continues.”

So far, Taobao.com retains a stable leading position in online shopping with 82.2 percent market share, followed by paipai.com and eachnet.com, with 9.9 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

Consumers’ main complaints about online shopping involved the inconsistency between picture and product and delayed delivery, the report said.

The large-scale report of “China in World’s Eyes” was issued in Beijing recently. Foreigners from more than 20 countries around the world were surveyed in the report.

When asked which can represent China best, most foreigners chose the Great Wall, Kung fu and Chinese food; and 21% of them considered the Great Wall as the best thing representing China. Influenced by Hollywood films, foreigners were greatly impressed by Kung Fu; many of them even thought most Chinese could play Kung Fu.

The report reveals that foreigners’ impression of China mostly come from films and other pop culture, which are very superficial. Compared with Chinese people’s knowledge about America and Europe, foreigners know too little about China.

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33% of the Chinese recipients of the survey thought the four great inventions of ancient China–compass, printing (movable type), gunpowder and papermaking, can represent China best. However, foreign interviewees did not seem to know the four great inventions very well, and only 6% of them voted for the four great inventions. In addition, traditional Chinese medicine only got 2% of votes due to lack of communication with world.

As for the animals that can represent China best, dragon and panda incontrovertibly lie in the top two with ratings of 45% and 42%.

Shanghai maintains the highest quality of life on Chinese mainland for Asian expats, but environmental pollution problem is still a concern, according to the latest survey.

The Location Ranking Survey, conducted by one of the world’s largest human resources organizations, ECA International, ranked Shanghai in 11th place in Asia and 78th in the world in terms of expat living conditions.

The city retained its top spot among the 13 cities in Chinese mainland that included Beijing, Nanjing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Xiamen.

The annual survey compares living standards in 254 locations around the world according to categories including climate, air quality, health services, housing and utilities, isolation, social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety and political tensions.

Overall scores are used by ECA member companies to establish allowances to compensate staff for the difficulties of living abroad.

Hong Kong, Taipei and Macau took the top three places in China, with Shanghai in fourth place, the survey reported.

Nanjing, capital of neighboring Jiangsu Province was rated second to Shanghai on the Chinese mainland.

The study showed second-tier cities were moving up the ranks while first-tier cities moved down. For instance, Shenzhen surpassed Guangzhou and Xiamen to become the fifth preferred place to live in, but Beijing dropped five places globally.

Lee Quane, general manager of ECA International in Hong Kong, said that as the availability of consumer goods in Chinese cities continued to improve, along with better health care and recreation facilities, Chinese cities would continue to rise in the ranks.

However, drawback factors that worked against Chinese cities included pollution, Quane said.

“Pollution levels in China remain very high, as this is an unfortunate consequence of China’s development,” he said, adding that high levels of pollution were partly responsible for Beijing’s fall this year.

Concerns over the quality of Chinese products also remained.

Globally, Singapore remained the favorite destination for Asian expats while Baghdad came bottom of the list.

Tens of thousands queue to enter the main railway station
in Guangzhou City yesterday
credits: Shanghai Daily

Heavy white storms staged a comeback late yesterday as China’s transport network remained crippled by the heaviest snowfall in five decades.

Millions of people trying to head home for the Spring Festival are stranded.

The big freeze has killed dozens of people, impacted on the lives of at least 80 million others and caused economic losses estimated at more than 53.8 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion).

Snow began to hit central Hunan Province and eastern Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces yesterday afternoon.

The national meteorological center forecast red-alert-level snowstorms in the northern and central parts of Zhejiang today.

Sleet is today set to hit major parts of Guizhou Province, and southern regions of Hunan and central Jiangxi – three areas where icy weather has seriously disrupted power supplies. Fujian Province in the east can also expect sleet, weather experts said.

Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday made a second trip to Changsha, capital of Hunan, within a week to help direct emergency work. Wen visited railways in Changsha and Guangzhou on Monday and Wednesday in an effort to calm stranded passengers. After several days of respite from the heavy snow, traffic along the expressway linking Beijing and Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, began to pick up speed after ice was removed.

More and more trains also resumed operations on the Beijing-Guangzhou railway. The north-south trunk line had been paralyzed since last Saturday from the Hunan section southward where power-transmission facilities were knocked out by heavy snow.

Guangzhou, home to millions of migrant workers seeking to go home for the holidays, has been the worst affected.

The number of stranded people in Guangzhou yesterday dropped to 400,000 from a peak of 800,000.

The cold weather is China’s worst since 1954.

Between January 25 and Thursday, a total of 5.8 million passengers were stranded throughout the railway system, said Zhao Chunlei, deputy director of the Regulation Department of the Ministry of Railways.

So far at least 60 people have been killed and nearly 1.76 million have been relocated.