The numbers making news around China during the week of Mar 18, 2013
99.86 percent
Margin of the vote Xi Jinping received in the National People’s Congress to become China’s president. Time
$6.4 trillion
Amount China plans to spend on urban development over the next decade – a process that will see 400 million people shifted from the countryside to cities. Reuters
162 percent
Growth in the volume of weapons exports from China between 2008 and 2012 compared to the previous five year period. This brought its share of the global arms trade from 2 to 5 percent. Reuters
336 million
Number of abortions carried out in China since 1971. This compares to about 50 million in the U.S. since 1973. International Business Times
62.4 percent
Proportion of firms who say they’re planning to increase hiring of experienced workers, according to a survey by 51job.com. 34.6 percent say they intend to hire more recent college grads. Wall Street Journal
$77.5 million
Worth of the pearls, precious stones, precious metals and coins that were exported from China to North Korea last year. It also exported $266.9 million worth of sound and television equipment in 2012, more than triple the amount it sent there in 2007. Reuters
$1.28 billion
Amount investors have put into the Wuxi-based Suntech Power Holdings Co. over the years. Most of that is now likely to be lost after the company this week announced it wouldn’t resist a bankruptcy petition filed in China. Bloomberg
$32 million
Amount that Shi Zhengrong’s 30 percent stake in Suntech, the company he founded, is now worth. This is down from $1.7 billion in 2006. Shi was once the richest man in China, but was ousted from Suntech on Mar 4 as the company faces bankruptcy. His stake may ultimately be worth nothing. Bloomberg