China is expected to unveil regulations within the year to subsidize its small and medium-sized airports and regional air routes to meet the rising demand for air travel.

The government plans to offer subsidies to airports that handle less than 5 million passengers a year, according to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).

The subsidies would cover 80 percent of the country's airports, the CAAC said, adding that 19 large airports would not be entitled to any handouts.

Air routes within a province and those shorter than 600 km are also expected to be subsidized.

But the CAAC said the subsidies would not cover air routes between the metropolises of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and between some hot tourist destinations.

Holiday Consumerism

The retail sales of consumer goods in China rose 16 percent year-on-year to almost 350 billion yuan during the week-long National Day holiday, said sources with the Ministry of Commerce.

Retail sales were boosted as more Chinese people traveled, gathered for family reunions, buy more commodities, and held weddings during the seven-day holiday known as the "Golden Week."

In Shanghai alone, some 30,000 weddings were held around the holiday period. Famous restaurants were crowded during the holidays, according to surveys.

Prices of daily necessities remained stable as there was sufficient supply in the market, said the ministry.

Burgeoning Software Industry

China's software industry reported revenue of 343.89 billion yuan for the first eight months of this year, up 22.9 percent year-on-year, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry.

A spokesman of the ministry said a series of policies would be promulgated this year to further encourage the development of software and integrated circuits. Efforts will also be made to foster and regulate the domestic software market, and support products with self-owned intellectual property rights through government purchasing.

He said that currently China's software industry lags far behind the international advanced level, with less than 6 percent of the global software market share, and it cannot match the development of hardware manufacturing in the country.

Potato Farming to Be Boosted

China will boost potato production and development of industries based on the crop as a way to improve the country's grain security and to increase income of farmers.

While addressing a recent national experience-sharing meeting on the development of potato-based industries in northwest China's Gansu Province, Wei Chao'an, Vice Minister of Agriculture, explained that in China, with its huge population, limited land and shortage of water resources, it is very difficult to expand the area of irrigated farmland.

Wei believes that potatoes, which are resistant to drought and cold and widely adaptable, have great potential. The official also reckoned that potatoes had a longer industry chain in comparison with other grain crops such as rice, maize, wheat, and soybean, and could reap higher profits.

Record Capital Raising

A total of 425.04 billion yuan was raised on China's equity markets through initial and secondary public offerings in the first nine months of this year, China Securities Journal has reported.

The figure surpassed the 423.89 billion yuan in combined funds raised on the markets from 2002 to 2006, the newspaper said.

The total included 126.71 billion yuan raised through secondary public offerings, 6.95 billion yuan more than the level in the 2002-06 period.

In September alone, money raised through 15 initial public offerings (IPOs) amounted to 149 billion yuan, or half of the money raised through IPOs so far this year.

The two biggest IPOs last month were China Construction Bank, one of China's top four commercial banks, and China Shenhua, the nation's biggest coal producer.