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GDP growth slows
April 27, 2012, Friday
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HANGZHOU'S gross domestic product rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to 151.6 billion yuan (US$24 billion) in the first quarter of 2012, the Hangzhou Statistics Bureau said this week.
The increase, however, was 3.6 percentage points lower than the same period last year.
Retail sales climbed 12.2 percent year-on-year to 65.8 billion yuan, 4.3 percentage points lower than the same period last year.
Gold and silver products and jewelry proved popular with Hangzhou shoppers, with sales soaring 22.8 percent. Sales of home appliances, audio and video products dropped most sharply at 15.5 percent.
The tourism sector saw a stable opening quarter with the number of domestic travelers rising 12.6 percent to 16.1 million, and 574,800 foreign travelers visiting the picturesque city - a 7.8 percent increase on the same time last year - bringing revenues in foreign currency up 10.2 percent to US$412 million.
The real estate sector continued to decline, with sales of 8,488 units with a total area of 1.19 million square meters, dipping 22.2 percent over the same period last year. The average price for new houses dropped 3 percent, while the cost of other homes fell 6.7 percent.
French showcase
The second annual French Week featuring art, music and cuisine began at MixC Mall in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
Visitors can learn more about French wine, catch a performance by band D&V and see the work of French and Chinese photographers. The photography exhibit takes the lives of French people in Hangzhou as its theme.
Tonight, Stradivaria, one of the top baroque orchestras in Europe, will perform at the Hongxing Theater. French musicians in genres such as rock'n'roll and jazz will also play.
The festival ends on May 1.
Green ambition
Lingjiang New City in Jianggan District has made plans to gain national environmentally friendly industry park status in the coming years.
The industrial park plans to allocate 5 million yuan to give awards to outstanding individuals protecting the environment. It will also set up an air monitoring station in the park - the first by an industrial park in the nation.
The industrial park will also encourage the development of new energy, new materials and biomedicine.
Lingjiang New City also plans to add 200,000 square meters of green land and hold its first tourism festival this year.
Nationwide, there are only 15 national environmentally friendly industry parks.
Designs on Dutch
Hangzhou Office of Culture and Creative Industry attended the roundtable forum on "Developing Creative Industries in Shanghai and Hangzhou," which is part of the Dutch Design Day programs for Dutch Week. The event is to promote Sino-Dutch collaboration on the cultural and creative industries. More Dutch design companies would like to expand into China, and Hangzhou is among their top choice of cities.
Brew of wisdom
The Tea Sage Festival got under way last weekend at Jianshan Town, Yuhang, Hangzhou, where it is believed "Sage of Tea" Lu Yu wrote his monumental book "The Classic of Tea."
The festival, first held 11 years ago, commemorates Lu, who lived between 733 and 804, for his contribution to Chinese tea culture.
"The Classic of Tea" has been described as the first definitive work on cultivating, making and drinking tea.
This year's festival runs until May 20 and includes a tea forum, a temple fair and a cycling contest.
The renovated pedestrian Yuquan Road at Jing Mountain Scenic Area was reopened at the ceremony.
School trash goal
All middle and primary schools in Hangzhou will be recycling trash by the end of the year, according to a senior urban management official.
The Hangzhou Urban Management Committee this week distributed 5,000 cartoon books on recycling to kindergartens and to Grades 1 through 3 at the Baoshuta Experimental School.
The program is aimed at teaching youngsters the value of separating trash so materials can be reused and waste minimized.
The program will eventually extend to all 190,000 primary and middle school students in Hangzhou, said Ding Jingyuan, deputy director of the committee.
A recycling program was introduced in Hangzhou two years ago and now includes two-thirds of all residential areas.
The increase, however, was 3.6 percentage points lower than the same period last year.
Retail sales climbed 12.2 percent year-on-year to 65.8 billion yuan, 4.3 percentage points lower than the same period last year.
Gold and silver products and jewelry proved popular with Hangzhou shoppers, with sales soaring 22.8 percent. Sales of home appliances, audio and video products dropped most sharply at 15.5 percent.
The tourism sector saw a stable opening quarter with the number of domestic travelers rising 12.6 percent to 16.1 million, and 574,800 foreign travelers visiting the picturesque city - a 7.8 percent increase on the same time last year - bringing revenues in foreign currency up 10.2 percent to US$412 million.
The real estate sector continued to decline, with sales of 8,488 units with a total area of 1.19 million square meters, dipping 22.2 percent over the same period last year. The average price for new houses dropped 3 percent, while the cost of other homes fell 6.7 percent.
French showcase
The second annual French Week featuring art, music and cuisine began at MixC Mall in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
Visitors can learn more about French wine, catch a performance by band D&V and see the work of French and Chinese photographers. The photography exhibit takes the lives of French people in Hangzhou as its theme.
Tonight, Stradivaria, one of the top baroque orchestras in Europe, will perform at the Hongxing Theater. French musicians in genres such as rock'n'roll and jazz will also play.
The festival ends on May 1.
Green ambition
Lingjiang New City in Jianggan District has made plans to gain national environmentally friendly industry park status in the coming years.
The industrial park plans to allocate 5 million yuan to give awards to outstanding individuals protecting the environment. It will also set up an air monitoring station in the park - the first by an industrial park in the nation.
The industrial park will also encourage the development of new energy, new materials and biomedicine.
Lingjiang New City also plans to add 200,000 square meters of green land and hold its first tourism festival this year.
Nationwide, there are only 15 national environmentally friendly industry parks.
Designs on Dutch
Hangzhou Office of Culture and Creative Industry attended the roundtable forum on "Developing Creative Industries in Shanghai and Hangzhou," which is part of the Dutch Design Day programs for Dutch Week. The event is to promote Sino-Dutch collaboration on the cultural and creative industries. More Dutch design companies would like to expand into China, and Hangzhou is among their top choice of cities.
Brew of wisdom
The Tea Sage Festival got under way last weekend at Jianshan Town, Yuhang, Hangzhou, where it is believed "Sage of Tea" Lu Yu wrote his monumental book "The Classic of Tea."
The festival, first held 11 years ago, commemorates Lu, who lived between 733 and 804, for his contribution to Chinese tea culture.
"The Classic of Tea" has been described as the first definitive work on cultivating, making and drinking tea.
This year's festival runs until May 20 and includes a tea forum, a temple fair and a cycling contest.
The renovated pedestrian Yuquan Road at Jing Mountain Scenic Area was reopened at the ceremony.
School trash goal
All middle and primary schools in Hangzhou will be recycling trash by the end of the year, according to a senior urban management official.
The Hangzhou Urban Management Committee this week distributed 5,000 cartoon books on recycling to kindergartens and to Grades 1 through 3 at the Baoshuta Experimental School.
The program is aimed at teaching youngsters the value of separating trash so materials can be reused and waste minimized.
The program will eventually extend to all 190,000 primary and middle school students in Hangzhou, said Ding Jingyuan, deputy director of the committee.
A recycling program was introduced in Hangzhou two years ago and now includes two-thirds of all residential areas.
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