Wu said insurers have seen relatively fast growth in agricultural insurance, credit insurance and capital investment, and thus helped maintain stable national economic performance.

Ford's China Sales

Though its sales in the United States keep falling, Ford Motor Co.'s operation in China remained safe and sound. In the first half of this year, Ford China sold 197,212 units in China, rising 14 percent from the previous year.

The nearly 200,000 sales were a record high half-year performance for Ford China.

Localizing production has been an open secret for foreign automakers being successful in China.

Chang'an Ford Mazda Co. Ltd., a joint venture of Chongqing-based Chana Auto Co. Ltd. and Mazda Motor Corp., sold 140,386 cars in the first half, growing a robust 20 percent.

Jiangling Motors Corp. Ltd., a commercial vehicle maker partly owned by Ford, sold 14,210 Ford Transit models.

Sales of its new Fiesta compact car came to 18,224 units during the period, the U.S. company said in a statement.

Robert J. Graziano, President of Ford China, said the company will launch a series of cars with green and energy-conservation technologies in China in the next year.

In 2008, Ford took a mere 3.2 percent of market share in China, and continuing to boost its piece in the largest auto market remains a challenge for Graziano, who took office in April this year.

Iron Ore Increase

For iron ore producers in Australia and Brazil, which have been hit hard by shrinking demand in Europe, Japan and South Korea, the insatiable demand from China is one of the major reasons that they have remained solvent in the financial tsunami.

In the first half of the year, China's iron ore imports from Australia and Brazil surged nearly 50 percent year on year to 215.4 million tons, according to statistics of umetal.com, an iron and steel industry website based in Beijing.

Exports to China have accounted for 78 percent of Australia's total iron ore exports and 71 percent of Brazil's.

Average iron ore prices stood at $76.15 per ton in the first half of the year, a decrease of 42.57 percent year on year. But compared to the past average price, this year's price is still $12.15 higher per ton.

Since the price has been pushed up and 70 million tons are stored as inventory at Chinese ports, China's imports will drop in the second half of the year, an official at the China Iron and Steel Association told China Securities Journal.

Corporate Travel Cuts

Against the backdrop of the world economic slowdown, industrial giants are striving to cut costs to stay alive and remain competitive. Corporate travel expenses, accounting for as much as 20-30 percent of controllable costs in multinational companies, has become a major target of cost control efforts.

At the Corporate Travel and Expense Management Forum held in Beijing on July 22, over 80 percent of participants, such as high-ranking managers from home appliance giant Haier Co. Ltd. and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., said they planned to cut at least 20 percent of travel expenses. This provided travel management companies like Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) a golden chance to tap into the vast Chinese market.

David Radcliffe, President of HRG, suggested several measures to cut travel costs. For instance, by using HRG's network, travelers can buy air tickets at the most favorable prices, which can save 13 percent per ticket. He also suggested downgrading commercial or first class to economy class, or take night flights, which are cheaper. Meanwhile, he said companies can save a lot of money by using video conference or webinar (web-based seminar) instead of ordering all managers to travel to the same conference room.

A Journey to the East

Beijing's Central Business District (CBD), a high-end area of finance, media and business services located in Chaoyang District on the east side of the city with the total area of 3.99 square km, will expand eastward for 3 square km in the next six to eight years.

The CBD is now the home to 130 top Fortune 500 companies and 203 foreign-invested financial institutions.

Seven top world planning and designing units were invited to bid for the eastward expansion area, including three from China.

The principle of recycling, green, and low-coal will be applied to the planning of the expanded area, said Wu Guiying, Director of the Beijing CBD Administrative Committee.