10 events that influenced China business in 2019

Editor's note: Against the downward pressure on the global economy this year, China achieved stable growth on both the demand side and the supply side. The country has seen positive performance in imports and exports, stronger infrastructure investment, and growth in the service industry. Below are 10 major events in China this year based on the most accessed business content on China Daily's official website www.chinadaily.com.cn.

1. China unveiled a prototype magnetic-levitation train with a maximum speed of 600 kilometers per hour in Qingdao on May 23, filling the gap between aviation and high-speed rail transport in the country, according to its manufacturer.

The engineering prototype is planned to roll off the production line in 2020 and go through comprehensive tests to conclude integrated verification in 2021.

The high-speed maglev transportation system is one of the key projects under the Ministry of Science and Technology's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) to promote an advanced rail transit system.

2. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on June 6 officially rolled out commercial 5G licenses, a crucial step for next-generation 5G commercial use.

The ministry granted licenses to the nation's three major telecom carriers－China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom－as well as the State-owned China Broadcasting Network Corp.

The move marks an accelerated push by China in 5G application. Its previous plan was to commercialize the technology in 2020.

China is set to become the world's largest 5G market by 2025, with 460 million users, according to a forecast by industry group Global System for Mobile Communications Association.

The country's telecom carriers are forecast to spend 900 billion yuan to 1.5 trillion yuan ($134 billion to $223 billion) in total on 5G network construction from 2020 to 2025, according to a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

3. China's STAR Market, or science and technology innovation board, a new stock venue for technology companies, started trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange at 9:30 am on July 22.

The Nasdaq-like STAR Market was officially launched on June 13. The SSE accepted listing applications by July 4 from 141 companies, of which 118 received their first round of inquiry from the exchange.

The launch of the STAR Market in Shanghai was seen by analysts as a milestone event in the development of China's capital market. The board in the long run will likely have significant impact on the A-share market's valuations and investment choices.

4. In August, the price of pork increased 46.7 percent year-on-year, raising the consumer price index by 1.08 percentage points.

In October, pork prices rose 101.3 percent year-on-year, contributing nearly two-thirds of the CPI growth over the same period.

The national pork price slumped by 23 percent in November compared to late October, statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed.

Pork prices have risen due to three major reasons. First, the culling of pigs to prevent the spread of African swine fever seriously reduced stock. Second, the country was at a low level in the pig production cycle. Third, some inappropriate local administrative interventions have had a negative impact on pig breeding.

The price drops followed the introduction of multiple government measures to boost supply, including those to restore hog production.

5. Beijing Daxing International Airport saw its first flight take off after a China Southern Airlines' A380 left the airport at 4:22 pm on Sept 25 headed to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

The flight signaled the beginning of operations at the facility after five years of construction, according to the airport authority.

According to the airport, 66 domestic and overseas carriers including China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Ethiopian Airlines plan to operate out of the Daxing airport. Starting in the winter and spring seasons, the airport will serve 116 routes and 112 domestic and foreign destinations.

With four runways, 268 parking bays and a vast terminal building covering 700,000 square meters, the new airport is expected to handle 45 million passenger trips a year by 2022 and 72 million by 2025, with international flights accounting for 20 percent and 40 percent of the total respectively.

With more runways planned, the new airport will ultimately handle more than 100 million passengers annually. It's aiming to become the busiest airport in the world in the future and lead Beijing to become an international transit hub.

6. Market regulators decided to ban online sales and advertising of e-cigarettes amid growing health concerns that vaping and a fledgling online market may have a detrimental impact on minors, according to a statement released by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the State Administration for Market Regulation on Nov 1.

The ban took effect immediately.

There are more than 300 million smokers in China, and 28.1 percent of people aged 15 years and older smoke. The country is aiming to slash the percentage to 20 percent by 2030.

7. More than $71.13 billion worth of intended deals were reached during the second China International Import Expo, held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10, up 23 percent from the first expo, according to the CIIE Bureau.

The second CIIE attracted more than 3,800 companies from all over the world, with a total exhibition area exceeding 360,000 square meters. By noon Nov 10, the exhibition had received more than 910,000 visitors.

The number of registered professional visitors to the second CIIE exceeded 500,000, among whom more than 7,000 were overseas buyers. Up to 32 percent of professional visitors specialized in manufacturing, while another 25 percent were from the wholesale and retail industries.

During the three-day demand-and-supply matchmaking meetings during this year's CIIE, up to 1,367 exhibitors from 103 countries and regions and 3,258 buyers reached a total of 2,160 purchase intention agreements.

8. China's Singles Day online payments hit 1.48 trillion yuan ($211 billion) on Nov 11, according to data released by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, on Nov 12.

The Double 11 shopping spree, which falls on Nov 11 every year, saw 1.779 billion online payment transactions totaling 1.48 trillion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of 35.49 percent and 162.6 percent respectively, according to the central bank. These transactions were handled by Chinese online payment clearinghouse NetsUnion Clearing Corp and UnionPay, the country's largest bank card payment processor.

The payment figure is the equivalent of having every Chinese person order about 1,000 yuan worth of merchandise, 21st Century Business Herald said in a repot on Wednesday.

Alibaba, the initiator of the Double 11 shopping carnival in 2009, achieved sales of 268.4 billion yuan this year, an increase of 26 percent compared to 2018.

9. The United States Food and Drug Administration announced on Nov 15 Beijing time its accelerated approval of the drug for treatment of adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

The FDA's approval for Chinese biomedicine company BeiGene Ltd's Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) capsules marked a breakthrough for Chinese drug developers. It is the first time an innovative therapy from a Chinese mainland drug developer will enter the US market, while the majority of new drugs, especially cancer therapies, from the Chinese market are imported, industry insiders said.

The accelerated approval is based on overall response rate, or how many patients experience a complete or partial shrinkage of their tumors after treatment.

Mantle cell lymphoma, or MCL, is a rare, aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a cancer developing from lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. It usually responds well to initial treatment but eventually returns or stops responding, and cancer cells continue to grow.

10. China launched a mobile number portability program across the country on Nov 27, allowing cellphone subscribers to switch service carriers without changing phone numbers, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Technology, systems and rules for services related to the program have been implemented after a nationwide trial operation, it said.

The ministry has asked related enterprises to rectify problems exposed during the trial, such as some carriers creating obstacles for the service switch, said Lu Chuncong, an MIIT official, noting that the program will promote benign competition among enterprises.

The country's three major telecom companies－China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom－have promised to improve the transparency of their services.

As of Nov 26, about 3.16 million subscribers have completed number porting in five pilot provincial-level regions, MIIT data showed.