More Chinese are getting used to shopping by simply punching
bank cards instead of carrying large sums of cash, as the first two
days of the National Day "Golden Week" witnessed a soaring number
of card transactions.
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On Oct. 1 and 2, CUP trans-bank transactions on the mainland surged
60 percent year-on-year to exceed 19 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion),
according to figures released on Wednesday by China Unionpay (CUP),
a national electronic payment and interchange network.
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The number of transactions in Hong Kong and Macao Special
Administrative Regions and overseas markets more than doubled to
hit 121,000, with a total value of 390 million yuan, up more than
80 percent.
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Bank card transaction now makes up more than 17 percent of China's
total retail sales of consume goods and the figure reached 30
percent in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and
Shenzhen.
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CUP issued 10.21 million credit cards in the first half of 2007 in
China, up nearly two folds over the same period of last year.
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The bank card organization also issued 127 million debit cards in
the same period, up 113.7 percent year on year.
(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2007)
