China has for the past several years been trying desperately to shift the driving force of its economy from investments in infrastructure and real estate to personal consumption in line with President Xi Jingping's call for "new normal." In reality, however, consumption is sluggish as there is no sign of an economic recovery, income levels are not rising, the number of children is falling and the overall population is aging rapidly.
The government's recent announcement to abolish the one-child policy, in place since around 1980, is aimed more at stimulating domestic consumption than at turning around the undesirable population demographics.
On Nov. 11, which is "Single's Day" in China, the Internet shopping "T-mall" operated by Alibaba Group, the huge Chinese e-commerce company, recorded a whopping sales total of 91.2 billion yuan (about ¥1.73 trillion) in 24 hours, a 1.6-fold increase from the previous year.