China's Retail Sales Grow RapidlyChina's consumer goods retail sales totaled 14.6 billion yuan during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000), rising at an average annual rate of 10.6 percent.China currently has some 100,000 commodity trade markets with a total annual turnover of 2.7 billion yuan, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The country has 1,800 chain store enterprises with a combined annual turnover of 150 billion yuan. More and more overseas-financed commercial ventures are springing up across the country, in the form of joint ventures, cooperative businesses and wholly-owned enterprises. At the end of 1999, China had 132 major foreign-funded commercial enterprises employing a total of 59,025 people. It also had 161 commercial enterprises involving investments of Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan companies, employing a total of 44,122 people. |
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