Editor's note: We are looking for stories that would tell us how life on the ground is responding to the rising yuan and price hikes. We found tales of courage, resilience and of lessons learned and mastered.
There is no clearer barometer of change than a country's attitude toward money. China is no different. [Full Story]
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For this engaged couple, buying a house is the first step to security in a city of sky-high real estate prices. "We think 2011 will be the right time to buy an apartment because we expect property prices to fall. All the experts are saying the prices will subside." more |
Don't follow the crowd when it comes to investing, a 50-year-old single mother, Yin said. She is convinced it's a battle between "mothers and the big powerful institutions". more |
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As China's currency grows stronger, Entrepreneur Zhang at home feels the hardest pinch. The small businessman's strategy is play mahjong, drink tea and wait out the current crisis. more |
Retiree Yu Ping is rethinking her attitude towards money, and intends to spend more this year instead of saving it in the bank where interest cannot catch up with inflation. The 83-year-old pensioner who measures the rate of inflation in braids of garlic and a container of milk. more |
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Zhi Junmei, 24, copes with a small income and even tinier apartment, but she expects her persistence to pay off one day. For this fresh university graduate, just surviving in Beijing can be tough. more |
China's Nov CPI up 5.1%, a 28-month high
China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose to a 28-month high of 5.1 percent in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on December 11.
The growth rate picked up from 4.4 percent in October, according to the NBS. The inflation was driven by a 11.7 percent of surge in food prices, which accounts for one third of the basket of goods used to calculate China's CPI. [Full Story]
The rise of yuan
The record high that the Chinese currency hit against the US dollar on the last trading day of 2010 is of great symbolic value. But the unfolding role and expected rise of the yuan signify more substantial changes.
The central parity rate of the yuan strengthened to a record high of 6.6227 per dollar on December 31, marking not only a 3-percent rise in the yuan's value in 2010, but also a more-than-24-percent increase since the fixed exchange rate was scrapped in July 2005. [Full Story]
China raises interest rate second time this year to curb inflation
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 Photo taken on Nov 18, 2010 shows a teller counting the Renminbi at a bank in Qionghai city, South China's Hainan province. China's central bank will raise the one-year lending and deposit interests rate by 25 basis points from Dec 26, 2010, according to a statement posted on the website of the People's Bank of China Saturday. [Photo/Xinhua] |
China's central bank announced December 25 that it will raise the one-year lending and deposit interest rate for the second time this year, as the government continues its battle against surging prices.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement posted on its website that it will hike the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points beginning Sunday, which raised the one-year lending rate to 5.81 percent and one-year deposit rate to 2.75 percent. [Full Story]
Inflation, prices top list of public concerns
High inflation and soaring housing prices have contributed to growing public dissatisfaction with their quality of life, the country's top think tank said on Dec 15.
Job satisfaction for urban residents, and confidence in social welfare programs, dipped to their lowest levels since 2006, according to the 2011 Blue Book of China's Society released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
The findings for urban residents were mirrored in their rural counterparts, with job satisfaction, concerns over the economy and social welfare at their worst in four years, according to the survey. [Full Story]
Netizens find a word to sum up frustration
The Chinese character "漲" (zhang), which is used to describe a rapid price rise, has been voted "Character of the Year" in an online poll in a move that suggests the public is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with inflation and soaring house prices.
The character received 2,993 votes out of the 7,563 cast in the poll that was organized by tianya.cn, one of the most popular online forums in China. [Full Story]
Govt reveals new-year pledge on housing prices
China's central government will strengthen its campaign to control soaring housing prices in 2011, a senior official said.
Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Jiang Weixin told a national work conference that the government will increase the regulation of the country's property market while also strengthening the implementation of tightening measures introduced in 2010.
Jiang said the central government will provide more favorable policies to help people who buy houses to live in but, in a bid to stop housing prices soaring, it will restrict house purchases intended for investment and speculation. [Full story]
Price stability main target of monetary policy
Price stability should always be the main target of China's monetary policy, a central bank official said on December 29.
Sheng Songcheng, director of the Financial Survey and Statistics Department of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), wrote in a statement posted on the website of the PBOC, saying that the central bank may place more emphasis on economic growth during harsh economic days.
"But in the long run, keeping prices stable is always the main target of the country's monetary policy," he said. [Full Story]
President vows efforts to help low-income people
Governments at all levels should invest more money and supply more land to housing projects to provide more affordable homes for low-income people, President Hu Jintao said on Dec 29.
Hu made the remarks while visiting low-income families in Beijing ahead of the New Year, extending good wishes to people nationwide.
Hu visited a family living in a low-rent apartment and an affordable housing project in eastern Beijing on Wednesday morning to inspect government-subsidized housing projects for low-income residents. [Full Story]
