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Middle Kingdom, Middle Class

CHINA | Monday, 10 June 2013 | Views [559]

Travel boom: Chinese tourists pose in front of the Forbidden Palace, Beijing. Facilitated by the easing of government restrictions on movement, China's burgeoning middle class is driving a domestic tourism boom. It already has the world's largest domestic tourism market, with close to three billion individual visits per year. The number of Chinese tourists visiting overseas destinations is expected to increase exponentially in coming years.

Tags: china, beijing, tourism, domestic tourism

Shanghai: A view of the modernising Middle Kingdom. Mainland China's most modern city, Shanghai is the country's beating economic and commercial heart, and attracts people from all over the country and the world. Packed with bright lights, skyscrapers, shopping malls and Western brands, the metropolis is a mecca of consumerism for China's burgeoning middle class, and is symbolic of China's future.

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Consumer goods boom: Chinese tourists capture the lowering of the flag in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, on their smartphones. China has over one billion mobile phone subscribers, making it the world's largest mobile phone market. About 80% of the population uses a mobile phone, and about 45% of the population has internet access. Demand from the burgeoning middle class recently led China to surpass the US as the world's leading consumer of smartphones.

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