China's GDP growth in 2010 reached 10.4 percent, an increase of 0.1 percentage point, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on September 7.

China's 2010 GDP now stands at 40.12 trillion yuan ($6.27 trillion), up by 321.9 billion yuan ($50.3 billion) from the previous figure released in February, said the NBS.

The NBS said the newfound gains came from industrial and service sectors.

Based on current statistics, agriculture accounted for 10.1 percent of China's 2010 GDP, industry and construction accounted for 46.8 percent and the service sector accounted for 43.1 percent.

More Competitive

China's competitiveness ranking rose from 27th to 26th among 142 economies in the world this year, continuing to lead the way among large developing economies, said the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 released on September 7.

China has improved its score and ranking each year since 2005.

The report said China is one of the world's least indebted countries, boasts a savings rate of some 53 percent of GDP, and runs only moderate budget deficits.

However, China's fairly poor results in the financial market development and technological readiness pillars pull down its overall competitiveness performance, said the report.

Faith in the Yuan

Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong have more confidence in the Chinese currency, the yuan, than other currencies, said a report by Grant Thornton China, a famous international accounting firm, released on September 6.

The report showed 80 percent of the private enterprises interviewed said they are "confident" or "very confident" in the yuan, while only 24 percent of companies said they have confidence in the U.S. dollar and 18 percent in the euro.

The business sector's faith in a currency is closely related to many factors, such as the stability of its value, market demand, liquidity condition, and confidence in money issuers.

The yuan will become one of the most trustworthy currencies in Hong Kong as its value appreciates against the Hong Kong dollar, which is linked to the greenback at an exchange rate around HK$7.75 per dollar, said the report.

According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, yuan-denominated deposits in Hong Kong amounted to more than 550 billion yuan ($86.1 billion) at the end of June, 75 percent higher than at the end of 2010.

Trademark Registry Up

China became the world's sixth largest applicant for international trademark registry this year, up one place from 2010, said Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, at the fourth China Trademark Festival held in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province on September 6.

Wang said this reflects the steadily rising comprehensive national strength of China and its strong economic growth. It also shows that the government has made substantial progress in intellectual property rights protection.

Despite the increase of Chinese trademark applications, the country lacks recognizable trademarks. "Actually, we cannot yet name a truly internationally recognized Chinese brand," said Zhang Yumin, a researcher with the Southwest University of Political Science and Law, based in Chongqing.