China's aerospace industries expected to take off
While focusing on military and space aircraft manufacture, the Chinese aerospace industry has now moved into cars, biotechnology and computers. Analysts said the industry's shift to new fields had brought technical and intellectual advantages and was helping to lighten the burden of over-staffing. (China Daily, 13 November)

Citroen to boost production capacity
The Dongfeng-Citroen Automobile Company Ltd is to expand its annual car production capacity to 300'000 units by 2007 or 2008. It sold 43'000 units in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of more than 23% over the same period of last year. The company, which has its headquarters in Wuhan, Hubei Province, is the largest Sino-French joint venture in China, with a total investment of RMB 13.11 billion. (China Daily, 13 November)

China's money supply continues to grow
China's money supply in October has maintained growth, and with the continued increase in total loans, the credit structure has undergone clear change. Some 40% of new loans so far this year have been channelled to individual housing and other consumption sectors.
By the end of October the outstanding amount of broad money (M2) was more than RMB 12.95 trillion (up 12.3% from the same period last year), while that of narrow money (M1) was RMB 4.99 trillion (up 18.2%). The outstanding amount of all deposits was RMB 11.99 trillion (up 13.3 ), of which corporate deposits amounted to RMB 4.21 trillion (up 19.8%); while residential deposits were RMB 6.31 trillion (up 6.5%). The outstanding amount of all loans was RMB 9.67 trillion (up 14.5%). (Xinhua, 14 November)

Co-operation between largest commercial bank and property insurance company
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) Monday signed an agreement for long-term and all-round co-operation. According to the agreement, the two sides will act as agents for each other. The ICBC will collect premiums and pay out claims on behalf of the PICC. They will also co-operate in Internet settlement, deposits and other fields. (China Daily, 14 November)

China's economic zones celebrate 20 years
China's special economic zones this week celebrate 20 years of frenetic growth and roller-coaster social change. The biggest and most successful of the five zones is Shenzhen, where population has grown from 30,000 to just over four million while per capita income is higher than any other city in China. In 20 years of existence Shenzhen SEZ has recorded annual growth of 31.2%, according to official statistics. (China Daily, 14 November)

New rules for revelation of listed financial institutions
China Securities Regulatory Commission has published special rules on the revelation of listed financial institutions, paving the way for the long awaited listing of commercial banks in the domestic market. (China Securities News, 14 November 14)

Holiday boost to consumer market
China's consumable goods market surged to a new high this year in October as elated holiday spending boosted sales. Retail sales of consumable goods totaled RMB 302.9 billion in October, 10.4% more than one year ago. According to a survey in 21 major tourist cities in the country, sales in both the retail and catering industries increased to a double-digit rate over the seven-day holiday around October 1. (China Daily, 14 November)

Businessmen have mixed feelings about WTO challenges
According to a survey of 5,075 executives published in Beijing Youth Daily, Chinese entrepreneurs have mixed feelings to China's impending entry into the WTO. More than 70% of the entrepreneurs worry about the challenges introduced by WTO and over one quarter of them believe that WTO will put ''very big pressure'' on their companies. 71% of them think that WTO will bring opportunities to their businesses but only 13.6% expect ''very good opportunities''. (South China Morning Post, 14 November)

Overseas direct investment to China up
The number of newly approved overseas-invested companies in the country totaled 17'493, up 28% from the same period last year. Their contractual investment volume amounted to USD 43.5 billion, up 37%. However, actual overseas direct investment declined 3% to USD 31.4 billion, mainly because of the decline in contractual volume over the past few years following the Asian financial crisis. The total number of overseas-invested ventures in China by October stood at 359'306, with contractual investment volume at USD 657.577 billion. Direct investment volume from overseas was USD 339.254 billion. (Xinhua, 14 November)

China to overhaul accounting system
Aiming to bring its accounting systems in line with international practice, China is planning another overhaul. The new accounting system will be similar to that currently used by shareholding companies, with improvements in the areas of fixed assets and intangible assets. (ChinaOnline, 14 November)

Foreign currency deposits of Chinese residents soar
The bank deposits of foreign currencies by Chinese individuals had hit USD 69.92 billion at the end of October, surging 32.5% from the same period last year. The foreign-currency deposits of domestic Chinese financial institutions stood at USD 122.68 billion (up 22.8%), while the foreign-currency deposits of enterprises rose to USD 44.15 billion (11.9%). Banks' foreign-currency loans totaled USD 64.39 billion, dropping USD 4.47 billion from the beginning of the year. (Xinhua, 15 November)

China becomes world's largest cotton grower
According to information gathered from purchasing centers across the country, China now ranks first in cotton per unit area yield, gross cotton output, and total cotton-growing acreage (Keji Ribao Science and Technology Daily, 13 November)

Retail sales of consumer goods rise in October
Retail sales of consumer goods in October increased 10.4% over the same period in 1999. The growth rate was up 2.2% points over the figure in October 1999. Urban retail sales climbed 11.9%, while rural retail sales were up 8.1%. (ChinaOnline, 15 November)

Siemens transfers core technology to China
With the founding of Shanghai Siemens High Voltage Switchgear Ltd, Siemens has transferred for the first time to China its core technology for making high voltage gaseous insulated switchgears. This new company, co-funded by Siemens and Shanghai Huatong Switchgear Works, is dedicated to manufacturing high voltage gaseous insulated systems of 110, 220, 500 kilovolts and higher. The sales of the products will reach 284 million yuan (US$34.3 million) in five years. Some of the products will be exported. ( China Daily 16 November )

New credit survey shows power of credit card in China
The Economic Monitoring and Forecasting Center of the National Bureau of Statistics and the MasterCard International Organization jointly released the results of the country's first survey of credit spending. The survey shows that most people defer payments on housing, education, cars and health care, with 74.8 percent of those polled saying that they prefer to borrow money to pay for housing, 10 percent for education, 9.2 percent for cars and 2.5 percent for health care. ( China Online 17 November)

Real estate market slips in October
China's real estate development industry index slipped 0.09 points over September to 103.43 points in October, official figures showed. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday that decrease in the number of newly completed buildings was blamed for the monthly drop. The total area of newly completed buildings was 88.93 million square meters from January to October, 18.2 percent more than in the same period of last year. The growth rate was 4.1 percentage points lower than from January to September. ( China Daily 17 November )

Investment climbs, especially in west
China's fixed-assets investment grew by 12.6 per cent during the first 10 months of the year compared with the same period from last year, a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report said Thursday. Investment in fixed assets from January to October totalled 1,568.7 billion yuan (US$189.5 billion). Investment growth in the western areas grew even faster than it did in the rest of the country, mostly because of the recently implemented "go west'' policy.  (China Daily 17 November)

Intel to invest another US$200 million in China
The world's largest chip- maker Intel is investing another US$200 million in China next year, to expand its production capability in Pudong, Shanghai. Intel started second-phase expansion construction of its first production base in China last August. The base is located in the Pudong Development Zone in east Shanghai. ( China Daily 19 November)