Chinese bank card holders traveling throughout the country between October 1 and 7, the country's National Day "Golden Week," spent 1.56 billion yuan (about US$190 million) in inter-bank card transactions, 2.7 times that of a year earlier.

The figure, which only includes transactions conducted outside the places where the cards were issued, involved 6.81 million deals during the week-long holiday, said China UnionPay Co (CUP), which operates China's inter-bank card networking business.

Bank cards carrying a UnionPay logo, including those issued by the country's major banks, may be used for payment or withdrawing cash from ATMs (automatic teller machine) owned by other member banks in and outside places of residence within China.

Since the beginning of this year, China UnionPay's network has expanded from the country's bigger cities to county-level cities, from the mainland to Hong Kong and Macau.

Chinese residents used to carry large sums of cash going shopping in as late as 1990s due to a lack of bank card services. When the cards were first issued, they could only be used to withdraw cash from the ATMs owned by the issuing bank.

During the seven-day holiday ending Thursday, travelers from the Chinese mainland spent 114 million HK dollars in about 80,000 deals in Hong Kong using UnionPay cards. In Macau, mainland travelers spent 55.3 million Patacas, with transactions via POS ( point of sales) machines accounting for 98.9 percent of the figure, China UnionPay said.

China has been encouraging residents to travel to Hong Kong and Macau as part of its effort to spur consumption and boost the economies of the two special administrative districts.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2004)