New yuan-denominated lending in China reached 7.95 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) last year, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, said Tuesday.

The figure was 1.65 trillion yuan less than the 2009 level, said the bank in a statement on its website.

New yuan-denominated loans in December last year stood at 480.7 billion yuan.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves reached $2.85 trillion by the end of last year, up 18.7 percent from a year earlier, said the statement.

China’s broad money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, had increased 19.7 percent year-on-year to 72.58 trillion yuan at the end of last year.

The growth rate was 8 percentage points slower from a year ago, but still exceeded the government target of 17 percent.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits, climbed 21.2 percent from a year earlier to 26.66 trillion yuan.

Chinese government had been working to tighten bank lending to curb liquidity and restrain assets bubbles by increasing one-year lending and deposit interest rate twice and bank reserve requirement ratio six times in 2010.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About Chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, HSK, HSK exam, Chinese Exam Preparation, China Business, China Travel, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing

More than 57 million Chinese tourists are expected to travel abroad in 2011, spending a staggering $55 billion, the China Tourism Academy, a think tank to the tourism authorities, said in a report released on Monday.

According to the annual report, the Blue Book of China’s Tourism Economy (2010-2011), the travel boom will send 3 million more Chinese travelers abroad in 2011 than last year, with a larger amount of outbound tourist spending.

“China remains Asia’s largest source of outbound tourists as the number of outbound travelers continues to soar,” said Dai Bin, head of the academy.

The flourishing outbound tourism market is sending the wealth of China’s well-heeled tourists beyond the country’s borders.

The report said it is estimated that last year income from 132 million inbound tourists in China reached $46 billion, while the 54 million Chinese outbound travelers spent $48 billion aboard.

“There was definitely a deficit in tourism service trade in 2010,” Dai said.

As well as the increasing number of outbound tourists, Dai attributes the deficit to the Chinese outbound tourists’ huge power as consumers.

According to Dai, inbound tourism, which was developed after China opened up to the world in late 1970s, resembles a “middle-aged man” compared with the country’s outbound tourism market that resembles a “young man” full of vigor.

Li Meng, deputy manager of the outbound tourism department of China International Travel Service, told China Daily that in 2010 the agency’s outbound tourism business almost doubled in terms of the number of tourists and the amount of revenue and profit.

Although sales for tour packages during the Spring Festival are not yet drawing to an end, Li estimated that the numbers of outbound tours will increase 20 percent year-on-year, which is “a propitious omen” for the agency’s annual business.

Shi Xiaojuan, assistant general manager of the Beijing office of the China Travel Service, told China Daily that tour packages during the Spring Festival accounted for almost one-third of the agency’s annual outbound business.

“For instance, our packages to Tahiti, a Pacific island, have been almost sold out at a price of 30,000 yuan ($4,500),” she said.

According to Dai, China’s fast-emerging middle class, improving transport links, combined with fewer travel problems and more favorable policies have all contributed to the boom in outbound as well as domestic tourism markets.

He said China will implement a “national tourism plan” in the next five years to accelerate the development of the industry.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About Chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, HSK, HSK exam, Chinese Exam Preparation, China Business, China Travel, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co, the owner of Volvo Cars, may begin building a plant in China this year that will make the Swedish brand’s cars, Bloomgerg reported.

“We have yet to decide on the location for the new plant, with Chengdu in Southwest China and other locations under study,” Bloomberg reported, citing Geely President Yang Jian Yang added that there is an opportunity for construction to begin this year.

Geely, based in Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, bought Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co in August for about $1.5 billion.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About Chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, HSK, HSK exam, Chinese Exam Preparation, China Business, China Travel, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing