The Shanghai Stock Exchange Market and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Market now have 130 million general accounts, with more than 5,000 institutional investors.

The sufficient liquidity at the macroeconomic level and the great enthusiasm on the part of medium and small investors enabled China's stock markets to enjoy prosperous business in 2007- a scene that has not been seen for a long time.

On May 29, the government increased the stamp tax on securities transactions by a great margin. This resulted in a big drop in the stock market. But the market soon restored an upward trend until the current seesawing adjustment.

A bullish market calls for discipline and rationality. China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Shang Fulin has said, generally speaking, China's capital market was still in the primary stage of continuous and solid development.

He pointed out that the key task at present, and for some time to come, was to "accurately grasp the development rule and features of the capital market, strive to develop the capital market and raise the proportion of direct financing".

Property income

This statistical term was used in the report delivered at the 17th Party Congress. It generally refers to earnings from bank deposits, negotiable securities, and other personal properties, as well as from houses, cars, collections and other real estate investments owned by families.

The original statement in the report read "conditions will be created to enable more citizens to have property income". Yi Xianrong, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the most important way to make sure that the masses enjoyed an increase in property income was to increase the proportion of work remuneration in primary distribution.

Energy and emission

The concepts of energy conservation and emission reduction have become common understandings of the central and local governments. They have also won support from the Chinese people.

In 2007, a turning point appeared for the first time in the aspect of energy conservation and emission reduction. In the first three quarters, energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped three per cent and the discharges of both sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand dropped for the first time.

It seemed the nation would achieve the goal in the Outline of the 11th Five-Year Plan - "from 2006 to 2010, we will achieve the goal of reducing the energy consumption per unit of GDP by around 20 percent and the total emission of major pollutants by 10 percent".

Next year will be critical for accomplishing this mandatory target. It would take concerted efforts from the entire society to accomplish this target.