According the statistics released by China's State Administration of Culture and Tourism, over the three-day holiday called Duanwu (June 25 - 27), a.k.a Dragon Boat Festival, tourism revenue topped RMB12.28 billion (US$1.75 billion dollars), a resurgence of 31.2% year-on-year. This exceeded the RMB8.26 billion (US$1.18 billion dollars) of tourism revenue during the three-day Qingming holiday, a.k.a Tomb Sweeping Day in April.

Across China, about 48 million people traveled domestically. Hotel bookings recorded a rise of 10% month on month, however ticket bookings during this period were only 70% of their total last year, according to Ctrip's Duanyu Festival tourism marking research report. It features the top 20 popular tourist attraction sites including Shanghai Disney Land, Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom and the Xi'an Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuang.

In an attempt to control and prevent the Covid-19 pandemic, tourist attraction sites across China requested tourists to make reservations online ahead of time and also authorities requested a strict cap of 30% of maximum capacity at tourist sites, amenties and lodgings. 

Real Estate Development In China Moves West

China's National Bureau of Statistics recently reported the first five months' investment in real estate development across 31 provinces in China. Guangdong province ranked the top nationally with a total investment of RMB518.67 billion (US$74 billion dollars). Tibet ranked lowest with a total investment of RMB3.96billion, however with a 45% year-on-year increase, it saw the fastest growth rate.

According to the statistics, the real estate development investment in the eastern region totaled RMB2519 billion (US$359.8 billion dollars), a drop of 0.1% year-on-year. The investment in the central region totaled RMB905.1billion(US$226 billion dollars), a drop of 6.8% year-on-year. The investment in northern-eastern region totaled RMB150.4billion (US$21.5 billion dollars), a rise of 0.5% year-on-year, while the investment in the western region totaled RMB1017.5 billion (US$145 billion dollars), a rise of 5.6% year-on-year.

New High-speed Railway Launch Connects China's Breadbasket

On June 28, the 795-kilometer Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou high-speed railway launched its full operation, at speed of 350 kilometers per hour. It goes north to Hefei (Anhui province) and Shangqiu (Henan province) and south to Huzhou and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

This railway would assist the traffic transportation of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, China's first high-speed railway connecting the north and east that was launched in 2011.

As a significant grain production region in China, Henan province has grain output of over 65 billion kilograms annually in the last consecutive years. The vice president of China's Society of Business Economics Mr. Song Xiangqing said the newly launched railway will further promote the grain industrial cooperation between the major grain-producing region and Yangtze River Delta markets.

China Refines Fuel Costs

The National Development and Reform Commission announced that starting from June 28, the price of domestic gasoline would rise by RMB120 (US$17.1 dollars) per ton and the price of domestic diesel would rise by RMB110 (US$15.7), a change reacting to the rising and fluctuating oil price in the international markets.

It marked the twelfth pricing adjustment in 2020, yet the first time for increasing refined oil pricing after the price dropped three times and held stable eight times.  In the capital city of Beijing, gasoline will cost RMB6,795 (US$970.1 dollars) per ton and diesel will cost RMB6,040 (US$862.9 dollars) per ton. Analysts in the refined oil sector expected that at the pump, a typical 50-liter fill-up would cost an additional RMB4.5 (US$0.6 dollar) under the new pricing.

GNC Bankruptcy Creates Financial Woes For Harbin Pharmaceutical Group

GNC Holdings Inc. (GNC), the 85-year-old U.S.-based vitamin and herbal supplement retailer, has filed for bankruptcy, with plans to close 1200 brick-and-mortar locations. Following this, Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd (HPGC) in China reported that their investment in GNC convertible preferred stock worth RMB2.049 billion (US$293 million dollars) likely would not be returned. HPGC claimed that GNC's retail business in China wouldn't be affected. 

Since 2018, HPGC has purchased US$299 million dollars worth of GNC's convertible preferred stock. Once accomplishing conversion of the stocks, HPGC would hold 40.1% of GNC shares, becoming the biggest GNC's shareholder.

According to the HPGC 2020 Q1 fiscal report, its revenue was RMB2.51 billion (US$35.8 million dollars), with a loss of RMB187 million (US$26.7 million dollars). In 2019, HPGC's profit dropped by 83.88% year-on-year. It also indicated that the revenue and value of GNC China retail decreased year-on-year. It stated that HPGC's early investment in GNC had lost over RMB1.1 billion (US$157 million dollars).