Top 10 China News – August 26，WK 35

1# Lin-gang driving Shanghai economic development

The friendly business environment featuring a higher level of opening-up has been nurtured in the Lin-gang Special Area since its launch three years ago, and efforts will continue to achieve more technological advances and systematic innovations in the area, officials and industry leaders said.

When Lin-gang celebrated its third anniversary, 23 new measures were released to make the 119.5-square-kilometer area in eastern Shanghai "an independent and comprehensive hub" in China's coastal region.

The new measures highlight development of emerging industries, with high-end manufacturing, hydrogen power supply, chipmaking, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, cross-border data flow and bonded maintenance taking on special significance.

While over 300 frontier industrial projects, with total investment of over 420 billion yuan ($62 billion), have landed in Lin-gang in the past three years, smart new energy vehicles, high-end equipment and integrated circuits should each see their industrial value exceed 100 billion yuan by the end of 2025. Lin-gang should be the home of at least 500 artificial intelligence companies by the end of 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, with their combined industrial value topping 50 billion yuan, Zhang said.

2# China has 475m 5G mobile users: ministry

The number of 5G mobile users in China had reached 475 million by the end of July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Friday.

The figure registered a net increase of 120 million users compared with the end of 2021, an MIIT official told a press conference.

As of the end of July, the country had built approximately 1.97 million 5G base stations, with all prefecture-level cities, counties and 96 percent of towns equipped with 5G network coverage, according to the MIIT.

The construction of new information infrastructure including 5G networks and gigabit optical networks will continue to be promoted, and the deep integration of "double gigabit" networks with various fields will be accelerated, the MIIT said.

Efforts will also be made to gradually extend the coverage of high-quality networks to rural areas, and actively expand the application of new business forms in rural areas, the ministry said.

3# China's NEV market to see rapid expansion in 2022-2026: report

China's new-energy vehicle (NEV) market is expected to expand rapidly during the 2022-2026 period, a report from the global market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) showed.

The country's NEV market size is forecast to reach 15.98 million units in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 35.1 percent during the period, said the report.

It predicted the compound annual growth rate for pure electric vehicles to stand at 37.5 percent, while that for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to hit 20.5 percent.

The penetration rate of new NEVs may surpass 50 percent in the Chinese market in 2026, the data showed.

Consumers believe that the current public charging and replacement facilities for NEVs could generally meet the demand for short-distance urban trips, according to a survey conducted by the IDC.

4# China's solar power investment surges in Jan-July

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China's major power generation enterprises saw a surge of investment in solar power projects in the first seven months of this year, official data showed.?

The investment skyrocketed 304 percent from a year ago to 77.3 billion yuan ($11.4 billion) in the January-July period, said the National Energy Administration.?

These companies' investment in power engineering projects totaled 260 billion yuan during the period, up 16.8 percent year-on-year.?

Investment in power grid projects increased 10.4 percent year-on-year to 223.9 billion yuan, data showed.?

As of the end of July, China's total installed power generation capacity stood at about 2.46 billion kilowatts, rising 8 percent from the previous year, said the administration.?

5# Top 10 Chinese companies on Forbes Global 2000

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The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China leads the Chinese companies on the Forbes Global 2000 list, showcasing the Chinese economy's resilience.

With 351 companies represented, China made the top three countries with ranked companies. The top 10 Chinese companies chosen by Forbes can be seen below.

No 10 China Mobile

No 9 Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC)

No 8 Tencent

No 7 China Merchants Bank

No 6 PetroChina

No 5 Ping An Insurance Group

No 4 Bank of China

No 3 Agricultural Bank of China

No 2 China Construction Bank

No 1 ICBC?

6# Hearing solutions company set to grow across China

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Sonova Holding AG, the world's biggest hearing solutions provider by sales revenue, acquired Hysound Group, a major audiological care clinic chain in China, thereby enlarging its store number and direct consumer access in the country, the company said in a statement.?

Empowered by this step, the Switzerland-based company will be able to add around 200 clinics in over 20 provincial-level markets, including 70 cities across China.?

With over 650 employees, Hysound Group generated 230 million yuan ($33.71 million) of sales revenue in 2021, representing a double-digit sales growth, despite challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Sonova's statement released last week.?

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of Sonova's 2022/2023 fiscal year, subject to regulatory approval, according to the statement.?

"This is another important move to increase our consumer access through our audiological care business, which is one of the key pillars of our strategy. China is by far the largest high-growth market globally, which is particularly attractive due to their aging population," said Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Sonova.?

7# Top 10 Chinese regions by per capita disposable income in H1

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Beijing ranked first among all municipalities and provinces in China by residents' per capita disposable income in the first half of this year, hitting 39,391 yuan ($5,767.01), up 3.29 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.?

Shanghai ranked second, with the figure dropping 3.37 percent to 38,996 yuan. Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces - China's manufacturing hubs, secured the third and fourth places with the figure at 32,443 yuan and 26,329 yuan, respectively.?

Official data showed that the per capita disposable income of Chinese residents came to 18,463 yuan in H1, growing 3.0 percent in real terms.?

Let's see the top 10 municipalities and provinces by per capita disposable income in China.?

No 10 Liaoning: 18,326 yuan

No 9 Chongqing: 18,923?yuan

No 8 Shandong: 19,129?yuan

No 7 Fujian: 22,594?yuan

No 6 Guangdong: 24,749?yuan

No 5 Tianjin: 25,454?yuan

No 4 Jiangsu: 26,329?yuan

No 3 Zhejiang: 32,443?yuan

No 2 Shanghai: 38,996?yuan

No 1 Beijing: 39,391?yuan?

8# China's Hainan to ban sales of fuel cars by 2030

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South China's island province of Hainan plans to ban the sales of all fuel vehicles by 2030, a government document said.

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According to the implementation plan of carbon peaking issued by the provincial government on Monday, all new and replacement vehicles in the public service and commercial services in Hainan will use clean energy by 2025, and the sales of fuel vehicles will be banned by 2030.?

The plan has made Hainan the first in China to ban fuel car sales.?

The plan also points out that Hainan will provide preferential policies in areas including vehicle purchase taxes for new-energy vehicles and gradually advance the use of clean energy on various types of vehicles in the province.?

The plan came amid the country's efforts to reach its carbon peaking and neutrality goals. China has announced that it aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.?

9# China sees growth in number of patent transfers

China has witnessed growth in the number of patent transfers and licenses over the past year, the country's top intellectual property (IP) regulator said.?

In 2021, the number of patent transfers and licenses nationwide reached 420,000, up 15 percent year-on-year. Among them, the growth rate in low-carbon industries such as green new energy is more than twice the national average, the National Intellectual Property Administration revealed at its monthly press conference.?

The number of patent transfers and licenses in Chinese universities and research institutes reached 27,000, a year-on-year increase of 33.4 percent, of which 30 percent of the patents belonged to strategic emerging industries, a spokesperson for the administration said.?

10# China plans demo zones for trade in services?

China will accelerate the design of a construction plan for national demonstration zones for innovative development of trade in services, the Ministry of Commerce said.?

Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman with the ministry, said at a news conference the ministry will make joint efforts with other government departments concerned to implement the plan.?

Two years ago, China started a three-year pilot program to promote innovative development of trade in services in 28 pilot areas. The areas include Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hainan province, Dalian in Liaoning province and Qingdao in Shandong province.?

Last year, China decided to upgrade some select pilot areas into demonstration zones for innovative development of trade in services."We will steadily promote the fulfillment of the pilot tasks in an all-round way to accumulate more institutional innovations for innovatively developing trade in services, and to ensure the high-quality completion of pilot work," Shu said.?

China has been stepping up efforts to develop its trade in services, which was valued at nearly 2.9 trillion yuan ($420 billion) during the first half, up 21.6 percent year-on-year, official data showed.