But profligate Chinese consumers are not only interested in French products. Global Refund's report also shows from January to October 2009, Chinese consumption in Italy grew 34 percent year on year and 32 percent in Sweden.

Many department stores in France have Chinese language interpreters and store maps in Chinese. Chinese tourists are mostly intrigued by fashion products, such as cosmetics, perfume, luxury couture, and red wine. The tax-free goods are usually 10-50 percent lower than their prices in China.

HK's Retail Boom

According to a preliminary estimate of the Census and Statistics Department under the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong's retail sales revenue for December 2009 was calculated to have reached HK$29.4 billion ($3.79 billion), up 16 percent from the same month in 2008.

Jewelry, watches and clocks, and luxury gift sales increased by 30.4 percent, followed by motor vehicles and parts, up 29.8 percent; electrical goods and photographic equipment, 23 percent; apparel, 9.6 percent; and commodities in department stores, up by 9.3 percent.

Christmas and the Chinese lunar New Year sales have always been two of the most important shopping seasons.

Although mainland travelers to Hong Kong consume only 4-5 percent of all goods sold in this region, many local retail giants have realized the potentially big purchasing power of travelers from the mainland and are engaged in organizing tourist groups for shopping excursions.

According to Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po Daily, retail sales revenue will grow 20-30 percent during the Spring Festival period (which falls on February 13-18 this year), with a large proportion contributed by tourists from inland cities.

Premium Growth

Lead insurance provider Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China said its life and non-life insurance premium income grew 31 percent and 44 percent, respectively, in 2009 thanks to a more supportive platform and innovative services.

The premium income of the insurer's non-life insurance, Ping An Property and Casualty Insurance Co., hit 38.5 billion yuan ($5.64 billion) at the end of 2009, much higher than the industry average.

After reaping large revenues, Ping An's management pledged to streamline the payment of claims from the average three-day process to one day solution.

The profits of other major insurers also surged in 2009. In the last week of January, China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd. and China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. issued their preliminary annual reports, with profits growing 400 percent and 50 percent in 2009 year on year to 6.69 billion yuan ($979 million) and 15.1 billion yuan ($2.21 billion), respectively.

Asian Economic Forum

Over 1,000 global thought leaders, including government, business and academic leaders will gather in Boao of Hainan on April 9-11 for the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2010. In its ninth year, the BFA annual conference has become a preeminent international economic forum in Asia.

The theme of this year's conference is Green Recovery: Asia's Realistic Choice for Sustainable Growth.

Over the course of the three-day event, participants will debate the opportunities presented to Asian economies as they move toward low-carbon energy, as well as broader issues, such as the effect the financial crisis has had on the global business environment, the transformation of Asian economies, and the potential for intra-emerging market cooperation.

"With Asian economies recovering strongly from the global financial crisis, important decisions need to be made to ensure that this period of growth is sustainable. Transferring to a low-carbon economy is one opportunity that could transform the region and drive future development," said Long Yongtu, initiator and Secretary General of the BFA.