ON A ROLL: Construction site of the Chaka-Golmud expressway in northwest China's Qinghai Province on September 16. The 474-km expressway is to be completed by the end of 2015 (LIU DONGJUN)

Slowed Production

China's value-added industrial output expanded 6.9 percent year on year in August, down from the 9-percent growth in July, the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on September 13.

On a monthly basis, the industrial output in August expanded by a fractional 0.2 percent from July. In the first eight months, total value-added industrial output grew 8.5 percent from the same period last year.

August marked the second monthly retreat of the growth rate after industrial output grew 9.2 percent in June, the largest increase since January.

"An obvious drop was seen in the growth of industrial output for August," said Jiang Yuan, a senior analyst with the NBS, citing reasons ranging from weak external demand to tempered growth of auto and cellphone production.

Property Cools

The growth of investment in the property sector continued to slow in August, according to the NBS on September 13.

NBS data showed real estate investment rose 13.2 percent year on year in the first eight months to 5.9 trillion yuan ($959.44 billion), 0.5 percentage points lower than the growth in the January-July period.

Investment in residential property, which accounted for 68.1 percent of the total, rose 12.4 percent year on year, compared with a 13.3-percent growth rate for the first seven months.

The slower growth was accompanied by a faster decline in the area and volume of property sales.

The total area of property sales dropped by 8.3 percent from a year ago, 0.7 percentage points steeper than the decline seen in the January-July period.

Property sales volume fell 8.9 percent year on year during the period, compared with a drop of 8.2 percent in the January-July period.

China's property sector has been cooling since the beginning of the year, with key indicators such as investment slowing for seven months straight and an increasing number of cities posting falling house prices.

On the other hand, the government has stepped up construction of affordable housing and shantytown renovation projects to help boost regional growth. By the end of July, 3.4 million units of affordable housing had been completed, or 70 percent of the government's annual target.

Yuan Bonds in London

China Development Bank (CDB), a state-owned policy bank, said on September 15 that it had issued 2 billion yuan ($325.5 million) of renminbi bonds in London.

This is the first time such quasi-sovereign yuan bonds have been issued in the London market, the bank said in a statement.

The bonds have three-, five- and 10-year maturity periods, with fixed interest rates of 3.35 percent, 3.6 percent, and 4.35 percent, respectively.

CDB Vice President Zhang Xuguang said that the bonds, backed by China's central bank and the National Development and Reform Commission, were important for offshore yuan market development, as China steadily expands the global reach of its currency.

The statement also said that Europe accounted for around 30 percent of bond purchases.

SILVER BULLET: A high-speed train bound for Changsha of central China's Hunan Province waits for departure in Nanchang of east China's Jiangxi Province on September 16. The Nanchang-Changsha train has shortened the travel time between the two cities from 3.5 hours to 1.5 hours (ZHOU MI)

FDI Drops

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland dropped 14 percent in August from a year earlier, settling at $7.2 billion, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on September 16.

The data, following a 17-percent slump in July, marked the lowest volume in nearly five years. It is a sign that investors are growing more cautious over the softening of the world's second largest economy.

For the first eight months, FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, stood at $78.34 billion, down 1.8 percent from the same period last year, the ministry said.

In response to a question on whether foreign capital is leaving China, MOFCOM spokesman Shen Danyang said there are no current statistics to support that claim.

"We are still analyzing related investment and trade flows. Currently, there are no abnormal changes," he noted.

FDI from major economies slipped, including a 16.9-percent drop from the United States and a 17.9-percent fall from the European Union. Investment from Japan went down 43.3 percent to $3.16 billion in the first eight months.

In contrast, China's outbound FDI by non-financial firms surged 112.1 percent to $12.62 billion in August. For the January-August period, outbound FDI totaled $65.17 billion, up 15.3 percent.

Huawei's R&D Center

China's leading telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei opened a new research and development (R&D) center in south France on September 12.

According to Huawei, the decision to open the new R&D site at the Sophia Antipolis Technology Park, 25 km southwest of Nice, was prompted by the fertile IT ecosystem of the hub, as well as the availability of skilled engineers in the area, who are world renowned for their know-how in the fields of electronic devices and software.

The R&D center will mainly focus on improving the quality of smartphone cameras, building the best Image Signal Processor and also developing Huawei's expertise in the fields of micro-electronics and software.

Huawei plans to integrate the first chipset developed by its engineers in Sophia Antipolis in its terminals by 2015.

"We are very proud of this R&D site, which represents perfectly what France can provide in terms of skills in the global IT market," said Song Kai, General Director of Huawei France.

Train Ticket Sales

Sales of train tickets reached a new daily high on September 12 ahead of the weeklong National Day holiday (October 1-7), the China Railway Corp. (CRC) said on September 14.

A total of 9.69 million tickets were sold on September 12, the highest level ever on a single day. The CRC said 55.8 percent of them were sold on the Internet and 10.8 percent by mobile phone.

A daily average of 8.32 million tickets were sold between September 9, when tickets for the holiday went on sale, and September 13—1.19 million more than in the same period last year.

Tickets are available 20 days ahead of the "golden week" holiday, which will see the annual travel peak.

Plateau Airport

The Huatugou Airport located in the Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi in northwest China's Qinghai Province is under construction. It will cover an area of 180 hectares, the Qinghai Airport Co. claimed on September 14.

Investment in the airport has reached 700 million yuan ($114 million).

The airport will have 3,600 meters of runway, with its terminal covering an area of about 3,000 square meters, according to the airport's project plan.

Flight tests at the airport are expected to start after construction is completed before yearend.

The airport is located in China's major production base for petroleum and potash fertilizer. It is expected to support local development and improve the aviation network on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The airport is situated on the border region between Qinghai and Xinjiang. Multiple air routes will link the region to major cities in the province and neighboring Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.