By Xinhua writer Zhu Yifan

    BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Coming back from a short business trip to Hong Kong, Clare Hu opened her purse and found that she had unintentionally spent half of her monthly salary while browsing through shops and department stores there.

    "There are a variety of goods there, and they are much cheaper," says Hu, a media worker in Shanghai. Her colleagues bought even more. The buys ranged from 2, 000-yuan cameras to a box of milk tea.

    Mainland tourist shopping sprees in Hong Kong are becoming a tradition, but such behavior has become much more reckless as yuan has risen in value, increasing its purchase power.

    China's currency, the Renminbi or yuan, has appreciated 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since it was unpegged from the dollar in 2005. The Hong Kong dollar, which is still pegged to the U.S. dollar, has weakened from 1.06 to 0.88 to the yuan.

    INCREASED PURCHASING POWER

    "With the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, the outbound travel market is expanding," says Grace Pan, head of travel and leisure research at Nielsen.

    Chinese travelers spend on average 2,597 to 3,506 U.S. dollars on an overseas trip, with the amount varying by region, according to the Nielsen China Outbound Travel Monitor report.

    Not only are mainland residents traveling abroad to take advantage of the rising yuan, they can sense the change in the domestic market. Prices of imported vehicles, which have been high for years, have been falling slowly for the first five months this year.

    According to National Development and Reform Commission monitoring data on consumer product prices in 36 large and medium-sized cities nationwide, the prices of imported vehicles dropped 1.95 percent in May from the previous month,

    China imported 171,000 automobiles in the first five months, up59 percent compared with the same period last year. In 2007, the volume of automobile imports saw an annual rise of 37.9 percent. Part of the reason is that international automobile giants made stronger efforts in China this year to make up for reduced sales in the North American market. Chinese consumers, with a currency that is becoming stronger daily, are believed to be becoming more open to buying imported cars.

    The market of imported snacks and other foods has been rising at an annual rate of 15 percent in the past five years, according to report on the industrial website sponsored by China National Food Industry Association (CNFIA).

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