This Day, That Year

Item from Sept 29, 1996, in China Daily: An employee of the Beijing Yishida Tanshi Real Estate Consultant Co shows a model home to a visitor at the Fourth China Beijing Real Estate Exhibition last week ... Residential housing, classified as one of the country's pillar industries, is expected to highlight the national economy, as China's construction authorities have outlined a development plan for the next 15 years.

Meanwhile, experts said property is set to become a new consumption craze.

Property investment accounted for nearly 15 percent of the country's GDP last year, three times that in 2000, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.