竹炉山房

Dear Noreen,

Thank you for the prompt reply.

The economy in China is still growing. But the food price is historically high, a bowl of Wanton soup costs CNY￥20 (AUD 5 dollars, today $1 = ￥4.4), which used to be CNY￥3 (AUD 45 cents, one year ago $1 = ￥6.5). Imagine price of a McDonald's burger in Melbourne rises 7 times!

My city has turned into a vast construction site. Some roads I used to walk on in the past 20 years had turned into highways. I still remember 1 year ago there used to be a small walking lane in front of my home, now it is a 6-way-road as wide as East Freeway. A subway is under going. Workers had dug holes into the mountain near my home and a new tube, no, two tubes include one tunnel under the China's 3rd biggest lake had just been done and will be ready for traffic in 2 mths. Generally speaking I had to adapt myself to suit the fast developing pace here.

However the Chinese economy is facing somehow slow-down as well, although not as serious as in Australia because China yuan is still strong. This year and next the economists are expecting China's growth being slowed down by 3%. The biggest 10 Chinese iron factories' production had already slowed dramatically in the past weeks. This news hit Australia's iron ore industry very hard and caused the last week ASX's retreat and strengthened dollar's crash.

Nevertheless I am hoping both countries (include USA) could escape from the mud as soon as possible.

Regards,

John