People in Guangzhou, capital of South China's
Guangdong
Province,
Shanghai,
and
Beijing
remained the highest earners and most eager consumers among
residents of the 10 largest Chinese cities in 2002, according to a
report from the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau.
According to the report, the three cities, in the above-mentioned
order, maintained their top positions among the country's 10 major
cities, in terms of both annual per capita disposable income and
annual per capita consumer spending.
"Beijing's good economic performance last year has enabled the city
to close the gap in the two categories with Guangzhou and
Shanghai," said Zhang Xueyuan, a bureau official.
The report examines the differences in annual per capita disposable
income between Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. For example, the
gap between Beijing and Shanghai fell to 786.3 yuan (US$95.5) in
2002 from 1,305.7 yuan (US$158.6) in 2001.
Beijingers are increasingly confident about their economic future
and are more willing to spend money.
Beijingers' annual per capita consumer spending jumped to 10,285.8
yuan (US$1,242.2) last year, 15.3 percent higher than the previous
year. The increase is the biggest among the 10 major cities for
this period.
While the top three cities see a narrowing gap in annual per capita
disposable income, the difference between them as a whole and the
other seven cities increased last year.
According to the report, the annual per capita disposable incomes
of Tianjin and Chongqing, which are ranked fourth and fifth, were
3,126.4 yuan (US$377.6) and 5,225.9 yuan (US$631.1) respectively,
less than last year's figure for Beijing. The two figures were
2,619.1 yuan (US$316.3) and 4,856.7 yuan (US$586.6) in the previous
year.
However, based on the fact that in all of the 10 major cities,
except Shanghai, more than 60 percent of their residents' income
comes exclusively from salaries, Zhang said that Chinese people in
general are still in great need of diversifying their sources of
income, in order to achieve more financial security.
Other sources of income include interest earned from savings,
securities, insurance and stocks, he said.
The cities include Beijing, Tianjin,
Shanghai, Shenyang and Harbin, capitals of Liaoning and
Heilongjiang provinces, Guangzhou, Wuhan, capital of Hubei
Province, Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, Chongqing, Nanjing,
capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.
(China Daily April 14, 2003)