China's progress in economic resumption

BEIJING -- China's success in controlling COVID-19 means the economy is in a steady revival mode. The following facts and figures indicate how the country is forging ahead in resuming work and production:

-- Profits of China's major industrial firms maintained steady recovery in August as the production and operations of enterprises further improved, data showed Sunday.

Profits of China's major industrial firms totaled 612.81 billion yuan (about 89.79 billion U.S. dollars) last month, increasing 19.1 percent year on year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The growth narrowed 0.5 percentage points from July.

The recovery momentum of industrial profits was further consolidated last month as supply and demand gradually improved, said senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong.

-- Vice Premier Hu Chunhua underscored Sunday the need to promote the development of new industries and business patterns in foreign trade.

Hu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during his inspection of China's eastern economic powerhouse Shanghai.

He stressed fostering new industries and business patterns to boost the steady development of foreign trade and contribute to the formation of a new development pattern with the domestic market as the mainstay, while allowing domestic and foreign markets to boost one another.

-- Shanghai registered a "pleasant recovery" in its tourism sector during this year's Shanghai Tourism Festival, local authorities said Sunday.

During the festival, from Sept. 12 to 27, Shanghai's tourist attractions registered 3.5 million visits, an increase of 28 percent month on month, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism said at a press conference.

The average occupancy rate of the city's hotels stood at 64 percent during the period, up by 8 percentage points compared with the same period in August, which was already a heated travel season, the administration said.