Word: china
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...facility, unique to Applied Materials' global operations, will house solar-cell production lines to devise new ways of bringing down the costs of manufacturing panels. Though the results can be utilized in factories anywhere, the center is directed to a great degree at expanding the company's business within China. "China is where all the customers are," says Charles Gay, president of the company's solar-power division. "The business is growing faster here than anywhere else on the planet...
...rich coastal cities like Shanghai, where GDP per capita exceeds $10,500). Consumer spending is growing quickly as well. In the first nine months of 2009, retail sales in Xi'an jumped 19% compared to those in the same period a year earlier, well above the 14.8% posted in China's cities nationally. BofA Merrill Lynch estimates that retail sales in the western provinces rose 19.2% in the first half of 2009, 3 percentage points more than in the east. "Xi'an has reached a very important development stage," explains Chen, Xi'an's mayor. "Incomes are just...
...keep that change going, the Chinese government has more work to do, however. Though the ingredients of rebalancing might be percolating in Xi'an and the rest of China, making it actually happen will take additional reform. The economy is still too dependent on investment and government spending instead of private consumption. Even though consumer spending is increasing, it is not growing quickly enough. Private consumption's role in the economy has actually been declining, to a mere 35% of GDP in 2008 from 46% in 2000. Economists say policymakers need to speed up the development of a better social...
...There is also concern that growth will slip backward once China's recession-fighting stimulus is scaled back. One reason Xu's minivan sales have accelerated is government tax breaks and rebates offered on certain car purchases - incentives that won't last forever. State subsidies have also been given to rural residents to spur sales of refrigerators and washing machines. Though the government is implementing longer-lasting plans to convince citizens to spend more money (including a $125 billion program to improve national health care, especially in less developed regions), those efforts will take years to reach their full impact...
...there are signs that there may be enough solid demand within China's domestic market to keep Xi'an's growth story alive. Carsten Wiegandt, the German acting general manager of the Kempinski Hotel, located on the city's outskirts, has been surprised by the kind of visitors filling his rooms. After the five-star hotel opened in June 2008, management expected tourists arriving from overseas to see the terra-cotta warriors. When the global recession hit, he feared his business might suffer. Instead he found visitors pouring in from other parts of China, many attending conferences being held...