China's May retail sales reached 715.8 billion yuan or approximately 94 billion U.S. dollars, which represented 15.5 percent year-on-year growth. It also was the strongest monthly sales gain since May 2004 after adjustments for the Chinese Lunar New Year Holiday. Meat, grain and automobiles led the sales growth, with year-on-year gains of 38.8 percent, 35 percent and 34.2 percent.

Very strong apparel sales were noted with year-on-year gains of 23.5 percent, which was further supported with brisk sales in May by "Giordano", a Hong Kong-based apparel retailer that has extensive stores in China. Total January through May 2007 retail sales have reached 3.5018 trillion yuan or approximately 448.94 billion U.S. dollars. Two reasons for such sales success are continuing income growth and the economic stimulus caused by the trillion U.S. dollar increase in the value of the domestic stock market.