1,500 miles of new high-speed railways

Stocks in Hong Kong had further gains today after a People’s Bank of China work conference yesterday promised a “more flexible and appropriate” monetary policy this year to bolster the economy. Chinese ADRs, especially tech stocks, soared yesterday after Chinese regulators approved Ant Group’s 蚂蚁集团 request to more than double the amount of registered capital of its consumer unit.

1,500 miles of new high-speed railways in 2023: State-owned China Railway 中国国家铁路集团 has announced that more than 3,000 km (1,864 miles) of new lines will be opened in China in 2023, including 2,500 km (1,553 miles) of high-speed rail. In 2022, the corresponding numbers were 4,100 km (2,547 miles) and 2,082 km (1,293 miles). By the end of 2022, China had a total of 155,000 km (96,312 miles) of railways, including 42,000 km (26,097 miles) of high-speed rail.

Silly shipping bonuses: The Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine 长荣海运 has reportedly given its employees year-end bonuses of an extra 10 to 45 times their monthly salary, and some employees have received as much as 52 times their monthly salary. During the first three quarters of 2022, the company reported net profit of 68.47 billion yuan ($9.91 billion).

Tea shops: According to a new report by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, the tea beverage industry in 2022 generated around 104 billion yuan ($15.05 billion) of revenue, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%. There were about 486,000 tea shops in China at the end of 2022. The entire catering industry was worth about 65 trillion yuan ($868.82 billion).