Guangzhou Citizens Spend Most in Restaurants
Many people believe that Guangzhou deserves the title of "best Chinese city for food". The latest data show that in 2008, Guangzhou's restaurants generated 51.5 billion yuan, up 23.8% year-on-year. In the first 7 months of this year, their revenue continued to grow by 19.2%. Citizens' annual spending in restaurants is estimated at around 5063 yuan, ranking top amongst other cities in the country and the quadruple of the national average level. There are now about 30,000 restaurants in Guangzhou and with the Asian Games approaching, the government plans to further promote the city's food culture by setting-up snack-streets, promoting the city's famous restaurants and improving the overall level of service in the establishments. 
 
China's stocks plunge 4.3% on Wednesday
China's stocks plummeted 4.3% to a two-month low today (August 19), as the real estate, non-ferrous metals and coal shares fell more than 7%. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 4.3%, to finish the day at 2,785. The Shenzhen Component Index dropped 4.79% to close at 11,209 points. Chinese shares have been on the decline since August 4th when they were above 3400 points. That's an approximate 20% drop in just 2 weeks.

Chinese mainland donates 176 mln yuan to typhoon hit Taiwan
The spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, Fan Liqing, said today (August 19) that mainland has so far donated about 176 million yuan (26 million U.S. dollars) in cash and 25 million yuan's worth of disaster relief materials to Taiwan to help deal with the disaster brought about by Typhoon Marokot. Fan also revealed that Chinese mainland has offered to send a civilian helicopter to Taiwan to help with the disaster relief efforts. Taiwanese disaster response authorities said typhoon Morakot has left at least 127 people dead and 307 missing as of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Toy Exports Soar in July
Toy exports are showing the first signs of recovery after being hit hard by the global financial crisis.  According to figures from the first 7 months of this year, Guangdong's toy export continued to record a year-on-year decrease of 12.1%. However, that number is 2% less than the decrease rate in the first 6 months. Export value in July alone reached 600 million USD, setting the highest monthly level so far this year. Finally, with toys being shipped out around the world to reach stores in time for Christmas, July's exports soared nearly 50% compared to June.