Urbanization rate

    MORE than 56 percent of China’s population lived in cities in 2015, as the country’s urbanization continues apace, a report showed Tuesday.

    The number of people registered as permanent residents in cities expanded from 170 million in 1978 to 750 million in 2014, according to the report compiled by the National Development and Reform Commission.

    Central Govt. budget

    THE Central Government will this year spend less on overseas visits, vehicles and receptions, popularly known as the “three public consumptions,” said the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.

    It will spend 6.31 billion yuan (US$970 million) on such items in 2016, slightly down from last year. This year’s budget includes 2.027 billion yuan for overseas travel — an increase of 89 million yuan from 2015 — 3.441 billion yuan for government vehicles (down 18 million yuan) and 842 million yuan for receptions (down 77 million yuan).

    Top trademark holder

    CHINA remains first in the world in terms of the number of trademark applications, official data showed Tuesday.

    In 2015 alone, China received more than 2.8 million trademark applications, four times the number in 2008. China has led the world in the number of trademark applications since 2002.

    Power utilization rate

    UTILIZATION rates at the country’s large-scale power plants reached an average of 886 hours over the first three months of the year, down 7.7 percent compared with the same period last year, the energy regulator said yesterday.

    The fall was driven by thermal power plants, which ran for an average of 1,006 hours over the three-month period, down 9.7 percent from a year ago, according to data provided by the National Energy Administration. By contrast, utilization rates at hydropower plants rose 13.5 percent from last year.