IN BRIEF (Page 18)

Young Chinese help box office boom

People who were born in the 1990s account for 57 percent of moviegoers in China, according to data from Maoyan.com, one of China's largest online ticketing sites.

The survey was carried out in 4,000 movie theaters across the country. It also found that young people living in small Chinese cities and towns have increasingly taken to watching movies as a form of entertainment and are spending more money on it.

The survey says Chinese film box office revenues in the first half of this year have surged 49 percent to reach 20.2 billion yuan ($3.25 billion). Booking film tickets online has become more popular, with more than half of tickets being sold through online systems.

New policies unveiled for Pingtan trade zone

Pingtan in Fujian Province, one of China's free trade zones, is well set to attract more business, with new preferential policies announced on July 15. The local customs office has put forward 22 new measures, including fast clearance for Taiwan merchants doing businesses in Pingtan, preferential clearance for perishable goods and online cargo registration. Twenty new measures were also introduced to delegate more power over agricultural imports.

Hainan Airlines to fly to Czech Republic

Hainan Airlines Co Ltd plans to put on the first direct flights between China and the Czech Republic in September.

The flights from Beijing to Prague will begin on Sept 23, and there will be three in each direction a week.

"This will be Hainan Airlines' seventh route to Europe, which will complete the carrier's global network," said Chen Ming, vice-president of HNA Group, parent company of the airline. "Chinese carriers are building up air bridges as part of the government's Belt and Road Initiative."

The Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013.

European investors still keen on China

European investors say they are still keen to invest in China's financial markets through the official quota system, although the recent stock market turmoil has made them more cautious.

The two major quotas that allow foreign investors access to China's controlled financial markets are the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor and Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor programs.

The QFII program, started in 2003, was raised to $150 billion in 2013 and the RQFII program, started in 2011, has been expanded to more than 10 international markets since inception, with each market given an individual quota.

Under the two systems, approved investors can invest in China's stock and fixed-income markets.

Nation No 1 in making industrial robots

China has become the largest industrial robot market in the world, with annual sales topping 56,000 units last year, an industry conference in Shanghai was told. Jiefang Daily reported on July 13 that China is expected to have the biggest number of installed industrial robots in the world by next year.

(China Daily European Weekly 07/17/2015 page18)