File photo.
Despite all the doom-and-gloom stories from "bears" in the Chinese market, a tour around Beijing's CBD, with the China World Trade Center at its heart, presents a very different perspective.
From the number of Starbucks stores to office rentals, a set of little-known "indexes" point to foreign business confidence in China's economy.
While China may have taken a few numerical steps backward recently, overcapacity is slashed and outdated practices are laid to rest in preparation for some giant strides forward.
STARBUCKS "INDEX"
Walking into any Starbucks in Beijing, people will hardly be overwhelmed by signs of economic slowdown. The queues are long and the seats are all occupied: those middle class customers don't bat an eye at paying 30-yuan (about 4.6 U.S. dollars) for a simple coffee latte.
China's enthusiasm for consumption, like Starbucks' appetite for expansion, knows little bounds.
Since its first store opened doors in China in 1999, Starbucks has expanded to more than 1,900 shops in 99 cities, making China the chain's biggest market outside the United States.
When Starbucks actually closed that first store -- coincidentally in CBD -- in 2013, and another (also in CBD) in 2015, rumors abounded that high rents had done for the company, fueling the naysayers eternally bearish view of China's economic prospects.
"These were not shut-downs, but relocations," said Zheng Tie, assistant director of the China World Mall, a shopping center close to where the stores once stood.
The first shop was far too small. Back in 1999, Starbucks had no idea that the market in China would be so huge, Zheng told Xinhua. The store was relocated to bigger premises in a new commercial center nearby, and business was even better.
The store that closed last year is moving to a new location along the street, where new products and services will be tried out, Zheng said.
By 2019, the company expects to have 3,400 stores in China, which means a new Starbucks springing up every day.
"We are very bullish on the Chinese market and will continue to develop our businesses here as we did in past years," Hao Yan, communications manager with Starbucks Beijing, told Xinhua.
