Zeng Xiao’an, deputy director of Economic Development Department of Ministry of Finance, said in an online interview on August 13 that in 2009 the government has already subsidized RMB3.5b for the replacement of automobiles and household electrical appliances. 

With this number, it is reasonable to believe that China's residential electricity consumption has already become more efficient that a few months ago.  Still, data released by China's Energy Administration on August 14 showed that China's residential electricity consumption went up 10.99% in the first 7 months, compared with last year.  This is a very good sign that the government effort of boosting domestic consumption has shown some positive progress. 

In another news, total retail sales jumped 15.2 percent last month from a year earlier to 993.7 billion yuan (US$145.5 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said Aug. 12. The growth in July's retail sales followed 15 percent increase in June, 15.2 percent in May and 14.8 percent in April.  Consumer expenditure grew 15 percent from a year earlier to 6.86 trillion yuan in the first seven months.

Last month, automobile sales jumped 32 percent from a year earlier, due to government's incentives for people to buy new cars. 

All these numbers show that China's consumption has grown faster than the 7.9% GDP growth, especially given the Consumer Price Index fell 1.8 percent last month from a year earlier.