China's Investment Surges in First Five Months

BEIJING, August 9 (Xinhua) -- Total investment in China hit 475 billion yuan (57.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first five month of this year, a year-on-year increase of 17.6 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Of the total, 279 billion yuan (33.7 billion U.S. dollars) went to capital construction projects, soaring 21.3 percent, and 78.4 billion yuan (9.5 billion U.S. dollars) was made for technical upgrading and transformation, up 5.9 percent.

The aggregate investment in scientific research and poly- technical services from January to May reached 1.7 billion yuan ( 203 million U.S. dollars), a surge of 25.3 percent on an annual basis.

Investment in education, culture, health care, broadcasting and social welfare amounted to 18.9 billion yuan (2.3 billion U.S. dollars), up 28.6 percent on a year-on-year basis.

The Chinese government has put the development of science and education high on its agenda in an effort to accelerate the country's modernization process.

In terms of regions, Guangdong Province, the economic powerhouse in south China, had the largest amount of investment of 64.3 billion yuan (7.8 billion U.S. dollars). East China's Anhui province enjoyed the fastest increase among all provinces and autonomous regions, with its investment rocketing 58.1 percent to 11 billion yuan (1.3 billion U.S. dollars).