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Number

380,500 passengers

By the end of September, the Qinghai–Tibet Railway, the world’s highest railway, had carried 380,500 passengers to Lhasa since beginning service on July 1, 2006.

40 percent

Profits in China’s heavy machinery industry, which includes sectors such as autos, power generation equipment, hydraulic equipment and machine tools, increased by more than 40 percent during the first eight months of 2006.

53 percent

5 3 percent of the air conditioners produced by Chinese manufacturers since the beginning of 2006 have been sold overseas.This is the first time that exports of air conditioners have exceeded domestic sales since the country began to export air conditioners 16 years ago, according to a report released by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA).

10.5 percent

China’s economy is expected to grow by 10.5 percent and the consumer price index by 1.5 percent in 2006, according to a recent report published by a research group under the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank.

3 billion

The central government has earmarked 3 billion yuan (US$375 million) this year to enhance the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said Vice-Minister of Finance Zhu Zhigang.

15.3 percent

China imported 95.8 million tons of crude oil in the first eight months of 2006, an increase of 15.3 percent over the same period in 2005, according to sources with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

6.8 million

About 6.8 million–7 million automobiles will be sold in China in 2006, one-tenth of total world auto sales, analysts said. The figure will climb to 10 million in 2010 and to 20 million in 2020, when China will overtake the United States and become the world’s top “first-hand” automobile market, according to a forecast of the State Information Centre.

35.4 percent

About 35.4 percent of the visitors to a housing show in Beijing said they would suspend their house-buying plans after the central government took a series of measures aiming to rein in the skyrocketing house prices. A survey of more than 1,000 visitors to the exhibition indicated the country’s macroeconomic control measures have had a psychological effect on potential home buyers.

15.9 percent

Beijing’s major industrial enterprises realized 110.74 billion yuan (US$14 billion) in value-added output in the first eight months of 2006, a year-on-year growth of 15.9 percent.

16.6 percent

Chinese key State-owned companies reported profits of 580.59 billion yuan (US$73.49 billion) during the first eight months of 2006, 16.6 percent more than the same period in 2005, official sources said.

80 percent

Eighty percent of county-level governments or above have established Web sites for releasing government information, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC).