Govt boosts new-type industrialization bases

The Chinese government has set eight major tasks for the future development of national new-type industrialization demonstration bases， according to a joint release by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Land and Resources on Jan. 29， according to China Daily.

The eight tasks require the demonstration bases to: strengthen self-dependent innovation and technological transformation; encourage low-carbon growth; expand leading enterprises and advance coordination abilities of small and medium-sized firms; promote industry convergence and focus on producer services; build selfowned brands and regional brands; deepen the integration of Informatization and industrialization; develop the public service system， and improve land-use efficiency.

The joint release also specified measures in policies， financial support， social resources and talent building.

Developing new-type industrialization demonstration bases will contribute to the national industrial transformation and upgrade， boost regional economic development， and help China become a powerful player in the international industrial competition.

China vows to promote quality in development

China has vowed to step up management and supervision over the quality of its products and projects in its development for the years to come， according to a blueprint released on Feb. 10 by the State Council， said Xinhua.

The blueprint， featuring the development of enhanced quality， establishes targets for the 2011-2020 period.

By 2015， China pledges to keep the qualification rate of agricultural products above 96 percent， while that of the general products in the national checks over 90 percent， according to the blueprint.

Regarding project quality， the passing rate for large and medium projects should be 100 percent， while the rest should reach 98 percent.

In the service sector， the customer satisfaction index in the producer service industry is targeted at above 80， while that in the consumer service at above 75， the blueprint said.

The blueprint also requires local authorities to include quality safety issues to their performance assessment system.

To better implement the policies， China’s quality watchdog will produce a specific plan annually to guide the work， according to the blueprint.

Urbanization to engine China’s economy

The Chinese government is building new cities in the country’s underdeveloped interior， hoping to convert millions of farmers into city dwellers and maintain China’s burgeoning economic success in the following decades， reported Xinhua.

Along the mud-clogged Yellow River， a local government has widened crooked country lanes into highways， turned farmlands into housing estates and invited Nike and Adidas to open stores in a nearby shopping mall.

In Changyuan， a county with 840，000 inhabitants in central China’s Henan province，

Figures

8.5%

China’s economy is expected to expand by 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012， a government think tank said on Feb. 9.

8.25%

The International Monetary Fund(IMF) has cut its forecast for China’s 2012 economic growth to 8.25 percent

from the 9 percent projected in September， and it warned that exports would be a significant drag on expansion in the

coming two years.

1.66b

China aims to keep

its total acreage for

planting grain

above 1.66 bil

lion mu (110.67 million hectares) this year， a senior official said on Feb. 3.

4.5%

China’s consumer price index (CPI)， a main gauge of inflation， rose 4.5 percent year-on-year in January， the National Bureau of Statistics said

on Feb. 9.ambitious officials， keen business people and restless farmers are working together to urbanize the sleepy rural region.

From the balcony of his daughter’s new apartment， a cluster of newly finished buildings unfurl in front of 65-yearold Wen Xianhua. Those were patches of wheat when he came last time.

It’s been six years since Wen last visited the county seat， during which time dozens of villages have been turned into urban areas.

A report released in January by the National Bureau of Statistics stated that 51.27 percent of China’s total population was located in urban areas as of the end of 2011， meaning that over the past three decades， more than 500 million people have been added to China’s cities， especially large ones in prosperous coastal areas.

According to the estimation of business counselor McKinsey， there will be one billion people living in China’s cities by 2030. This means more than 300 million new urban residents - almost as big as the current population of the United States.

However， a blue book on international urban development warns that the fast growing population has overwhelmed the insufficient infrastructure of China’s big cities. The blue book done by China’s top think tank， the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， says problems like traffic jam and pollution might become even worse in the coming years.

0.7%

China’s Producer Price Index (PPI)， a main gauge of inflation at the wholesale level， rose 0.7 percent in January year-on-year， the lowest since December 2009， the NationalBureau of Statistics(NBS) said on Feb. 9.

25.4%

China’s industrial enterprises saw their profits increase 25.4 percent year-on-year to reach 5.45 trillion yuan (863.68 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011， the National Bureau of

Statistics (NBS) said on Feb. 3.

11.5%

The export and import value of China-made electronics rose 11.5 percent year-on-year to 1.13 trillion U.S. dollars in 2011， the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(MIIT) said on Feb. 2.