CLEAN AND SUN-POWERED: Workers prepare solar photovoltaic power panels for operation in Xigaze, Tibet Autonomous Region. The first phase of the Xigaze Solar Photovoltaic Power Station, the largest in Tibet, came into use on July 5, and it has the capacity of generating 20.23 million kwh of electricity annually (WEN TAO)

Numbers of the Week

124.58 billion yuan

Sales revenues under the national program to subsidize rural purchases of home appliances totalled 124.58 billion yuan ($19.28 billion) in the first half of 2011, surging 83.7 percent from the previous year, said the Ministry of Commerce.

141.5 billion yuan

Revenues of China's software industry grew 29.3 percent year on year to reach 141.5 billion yuan ($21.9 billion) in May, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.