Beijing had no snow on the eve of the Lunar New Year, but when people woke up in the
morning on Sunday, they saw the streets covered by a snow of red
scraps of paper left by fireworks.
It was a sleepless night, when people throughout the country,
urban and rural, reveled with firecrackers and the best food and
drinks they could prepare, to welcome the Year of the Golden
Pig.
Beijing's official statistics show that by the New Year's Eve,
more than 380,000 boxes of firecrackers had been sold, compared
with 240,000 boxes for the same period last year. This does not
include unlicensed sales of cheaper but substandard firecrackers,
which is estimated to be more than the authorized figure.
For many Chinese, enjoying fireworks is a traditional way for
happiness and celebrations. The festive mood this year is obviously
stronger than ever before, and that is justified when considering
what a year they've had in 2006 and what they are expecting in
2007.
Liu Hang, a retired worker in Beijing, enjoys telling his
investment stories in 2006. In a year's time, he got a return of
110,000 yuan (about US$14,000) from an investment of 50,000 yuan in
the stock markets.
China's stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen cherished the
world's best performance last year, with major indices rising over
130 percent, bringing about profits to almost all investors,
including individuals who had been losing money in the market for
quite a few years prior to 2006.
Experts comment the stock markets, after rudimental reforms
since the second half of 2005, are finally able to reflect the
country's economic growth, which recorded a GDP growth of 10.7
percent year-on-year to reach 20.94 trillion yuan in 2006, the
fourth straight annual double-digit growth rate for the world's
fourth largest economy.
Urban and rural residents enjoyed double-digit growth in per
capita disposable income, with urban residents earning 11,759 yuan,
up 12.1 percent; while that for rural residents was 3,587 yuan, up
10.2 percent.
Although the income growth of rural residents is moderate, they
have greater expectations in the new year, as the Chinese
government has vowed to increase investment in rural areas and
narrow the economic disparity between rural and urban areas.
Worrying that the economy might go overheated, the Chinese
government has adopted a series of tightening measures since the
second half of last year, mainly targeting at surging housing
prices and investment in repetitive projects.
It has also taken measures to restructure the economy,?with
an eye?to balancing international trade and increase domestic
consumption.
Even though, the country's economy is still expected to grow
robustly in 2007. The World Bank has forecasted that a GDP growth
of 9.6 percent is possible for 2007, while many Chinese and foreign
analysts held that it will remain above 10 percent.
These forecasts are quite reasonable, considering that the
profit growth of China's listed companies was well above 30 percent
in 2006, and the strong earnings momentum is expected to continue
in the New Year.
On February 16, the last trading day before the Year of the Pig,
the Shanghai Composite Index surged over the mark of 3000 points
and closed at a record high of 2998.47 points, indicating
investors' strong confidence in the market.
"There may be drastic fluctuations during the year, but I see no
reason for a market crash," said Huang Huanan, a technician with an
IT company in Beijing, who has been investing in the stock market
since the early 1990s.
"The economy will continue to growth strongly, I'm confident
that I'll get a return of at least 30 percent this year," he
said.
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2007)