➲ New Energy Plans

Several plans for the development of China's energy sector and nuclear power safety over the next five years have passed, according to a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council recently. The meeting passed the Nuclear Power Safety Plan (2011-20) as well as the Mid- and Long-term Development Plan for Nuclear Power (2011-20). During the 2011-15 period, China will not construct any nuclear projects in inland regions, but only construct a few projects in coastal areas that have gone through adequate evaluation processes. China will also apply the world's tightest safety requirements to new nuclear power projects and adhere to third-generation nuclear safety standards in constructing new projects.

➲ Middle Class Expanding

China's rapid urbanization will greatly increase its number of middle class people to 600 million and support an economic growth between 7 and 8 percent annually by 2020, said the China Institute for Reform and Development in a report released in November. The institute indicated that China's urbanization rate reached 51.3 percent in 2011, meaning over half of the Chinese population lived in cities and towns last year.

➲ Safe Water

About 298 million more rural residents in China will hopefully have access to safe drinking water by 2015, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Water Resources. Resolving water safety problems for these rural residents and 114,000 schools in the countryside is listed as one of the government's priority projects. China will invest 175 billion yuan ($28 billion) by 2015 to ensure supplies of safe drinking water in rural areas.

➲ Income Gap

The income gap between China's urban and rural residents has narrowed for three consecutive years, the Ministry of Agriculture said in November. Rural residents' per-capita cash income stood at 6,778 yuan ($1,086) in the first three quarters of this year, up 12.3 percent year on year, 2.5 percentage points higher than that of urban residents. The urban-rural income ratio was 2.72 to 1, down from 2.77 to 1 in the same period last year.

➲ Trade Conundrum

The 112th session of the Canton Fair (October 15-November 4), China's largest trade fair, witnessed a decline in both participants and turnover. A total of 188,145 overseas participants from 211 countries and regions signed up to attend the fair, down 10.26 percent than the last session in the spring, and down 10.5 percent from the corresponding period last year, said Liu Jianjun, spokesman of the event. The fair has also seen a fall in its turnover - $32.68 billion - a 9.3-percent decrease compared to the spring session. Orders from European countries and Japan dropped considerably, while those from emerging markets showed minor declines.

➲ Outbound M&As

Outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by China's enterprises have reached their highest level since 2005 in the first three quarters of this year in terms of transaction volume, a Deloitte report showed in November. In the first nine months of 2012, 133 overseas M&A cases involving Chinese firms have been disclosed, down from 145 in the same period last year, but the total M&A volume surged 16.2 percent year on year to $52.2 billion, according to Deloitte.

➲ First Cultural Industry Index

China launched its first cultural industry index in November to provide an indicator of how the sector is performing. Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Securities Information Co. Ltd. jointly issued the OCT Culture Index named after OCT group, a Shenzhen-based state-owned enterprise. Among the 99 listed companies in the country's cultural sector, 50 are chosen as samples of the index. The index's basis date is laid on June 30, 2009 and its basis points are set at 1,000.

➲ Job Satisfaction

More than half of young Chinese workers care more about positions where they can utilize their skills than the prospect of promotions, according to the results of a survey conducted by China Youth Daily recently. About 51.5 percent of 4,155 respondents said they are not interested in a job level, but instead place greater value on positions that suit them best. About 47 percent of those polled said promotions bring too much pressure, adding that they prefer to balance their work and personal lives. Chinese born in the 1980s and 1990s accounted for 65.4 percent of the respondents, according to the report.

13.7%

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$89 million

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8.3%

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8.6%

China's tax revenues up year on year January-September

$42.56 billion

Nigeria's foreign reserves in October