China's Economic Growth Could Exceed 10 percent in Q4

China's economic growth could exceed 10 percent in the fourth quarter due to climbing export orders and increasing domestic consumption.

According to a report issued by China Construction Bank yesterday, China's full year economic growth would reach 8.3 percent, compared with Asian Bank's forecast of 8.2 percent in September and HSBC's 8.1 percent this week.

As the economy rebounds, both investor and consumer confidence should rise in the fourth quarter, which would further strengthen the economic recovery.
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The National Bureau of Statistic says China's purchase management index rose to 55.2 percent in October, an increase of 0.9 percentage points from the previous month, indicating the economy was on an upward trend.
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Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced yesterday that it would invest 1 billion U.S. dollars in China over the next five years, with a main aim to increase research and development activities here.

The company said in a statement that the new investment will include a significant expansion of the Novartis Institute of BioMedical Research in Shanghai.
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The Shanghai institute specializes in basic research and development of new drugs including small molecule and biological medicines to treat diseases that are highly prevalent in China.
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The number of sale and purchase agreements for all building units in Hong Kong in October was 11,112, up 83.5 percent year on year but down 23 percent from the previous month, according to the city's Land Registry.

The agreements were worth a total of 45.5 billion HK dollars or 5. 8 billion U.S. dollars, up 140 percent year on year but down 32.2 percent from September.

Around 9,300 of the agreements were for residential units, up 97.1 percent year on year but down 24.3 percent on September. The total value stood at 36.3 billion HK dollars which is 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, down 35.3 percent month on month.
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Rising housing prices, particularly those of luxury flats, have caused concerns for potential asset bubbles and prompted the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government officials to comment on housing prices in the city.
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Scientists in Germany have developed an application that allows a car to be controlled by a mobile phone.

The Freie University of Berlin developed the application for the iPhone, which can control a specially adapted vehicle.


Foreigner Surviving in Beijing

Foreign people living in Beijing are finding ways of not only surviving, but living happy lives in China's Capital. Our reporter Huang Rui takes a close look at a particular case of someone trying to make the most of his ex-pat life here in China.