LINK TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD: The last tunnel of the Metok Road project is open on December 15. The 117.278-km-long road, leading to the roadless Metok County of Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, is expected to be completed in 2011 at a total investment of up to 950 million yuan ($142.63 million) (JUE GUO)

ODI's Big Increase

China's outbound direct investment (ODI) in non-financial sectors in 122 countries and regions reached $47.56 billion in the first 11 months of this year, said the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

The country's non-financial ODI in the first 11 months was just under last year's total of $47.8 billion, said Yao Jian, a MOFOCM spokesman.

The investment mainly flew to Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Russia and Brazil. The majority of the investment went into mining, manufacturing, transportation and the service sector.

Yao also predicted the nation's total non-financial ODI would amount to $220 billion during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10), which would make China the fifth largest investor around the world, up from the 18th five years ago.

Dissatisfied Consumers

The proportion of Chinese citizens satisfied with price levels has sunk to an 11-year low despite government efforts to rein in prices, the central bank said on December 15.

The residents' price satisfaction index fell to 13.8 percent—the lowest since the fourth quarter of 1999, when the quarterly survey began—according to a statement published on the central bank's website.

The central bank conducted the 20,000-respondent survey during the fourth quarter in 50 cities across China.

Some 73.9 percent of respondents said current prices are "too high," up 15.6 percentage points from the third quarter, while 61.4 percent said they expect prices to continue to rise into the next quarter.

Treasury Bonds

The Ministry of Finance sold 30.78 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) of 10-year book-entry treasury bonds to the public from December 16-20.

The bonds—the 41st batch of their kind to be sold by the ministry this year—carry a fixed interest rate of 3.77 percent.

They became tradable on December 22 through the national interbank bond market and over the counter at designated commercial banks. Interest on the bonds will be paid every half year.

Green Drive

Longyuan Power Group, the Hong Kong-listed new energy unit of China Guodian Corp., will invest 3 billion yuan ($450 million) in overseas expansion next year, and three wind projects in the United States are already under negotiation.

Xie Changjun, General Manager of Longyuan, said the scale of the projects will range from 300 to 1,000 megawatts. He said Longyuan will expand its business in the United States mainly by buying existing wind power plants and investing in its own projects.

Aside from the U.S. projects, Longyuan will also expand its business in South Africa, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Australia in 2011. Major developments will be made on two to three of those overseas projects in 2011.

Ambitious Mac

Fast-food giant McDonald's announced on December 15 that it is planning its biggest expansion in China by raising its capital spending in the Chinese market by 40 percent in 2011 and opening 200 new stores in the next three years.

The company has been operating in China for 20 years, but is lagging behind its rival KFC, which has about 3,200 stores in the country, while McDonald's current has about 1,200 stores.

Besides the expansion, the company also decided to upgrade designs for new stores and remodel 80 percent of existing ones. About half of the 200 new stores will be drive-through locations.