Society

In Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, a snack vender post obama's photo on his signboard on the 4th of March. his idea drew a lot of clients.

It's seems like US president Obama is more popular in China.

China announced plans Wednesday to boost spending on its increasingly potent military 14.9 percent this year, maintaining nearly two decades of annual double-digit defense hikes that have stirred concern in Washington and among Beijing's neighbors.

In announcing the spending increase, a spokesman for the national legislature, Li Zhaoxing, played down worries about China's military might, saying the boost was "modest" and suitable for world's third largest economy. Much of the additional funding would go toward boosting salaries and benefits for servicemen, he said.

China's defense spending is on par with the budgets of Japan, Russia and Britain, but is still dwarfed by U.S. military expenditures, which are nearly 10 times as large. International military experts say Chine's defense budget may be much higher than Beijing says because spending on military hardware and other items are not included.

The greater military spending is part of a robust national budget that will be unveiled Thursday at the opening of the legislature's annual session and features a hefty stimulus plan to reinvigorate the flagging economy and ward off the global economic downturn. A government adviser said the spending plan will try to promote consumer spending and sets a goal of 8 percent growth — the same target China has put in budget plans for many years but that it may have difficulty reaching as demand for Chinese exports evaporate in the U.S. and Europe.

"The report will say that the main goal is to stimulate the economy," said Tan Giok Sie, a Hong Kong businessman and a member of an advisory panel that meets concurrently with the national legislature.

Maintaining a strong rate of growth is believed by officials to be essential to create jobs, raise incomes and stave off unrest in a society that has grown used to steadily rising standards of living. Anything less than 7 or 8 percent, some officials say, would strain stability.

In recent months, the government has unveiled a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan and a 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) to expand and revamp an inadequate health care system.

Worried that throwing so much money at the economy would exacerbate already widespread corruption, a group of liberal Communist Party elders have called on the current leadership to be transparent

"We are very concerned that privileged and corrupt individuals may use this opportunity to enrich themselves, damaging relations between the party and the people and exacerbating social conflicts," said the letter dated Jan. 20 and circulated on the Internet.

The defense spending increase, while still hefty, represents a deceleration from recent years, as the government tries to direct spending elsewhere and tensions with rival Taiwan decrease.

Traditional Chinese herbal tea combined with Western marketing strategy is producing one of the most popular soft drinks in China.

Wang Laoji, a 170-year-old brand of herbal tea, beat global beverage giant Coca-Cola in China in 2007 by generating 9 billion yuan worth of revenue. Wang Laoji's success started from a dose of Western marketing in 2002.

JDB Group, a private beverage company originally from Hong Kong, had sold Wang Laoji herbal tea for seven years by 2002. Yang Aixing, manager of the advertising department at JDB Group, went to Achieve Marketing Consultation (AMC), a partner of the consulting firm Trout & Partners, simply looking for a decent advertising company to shoot a new commercial.

"Yang was expecting nothing more than a cool commercial from us," said Geng Yicheng, general manager of AMC.

But Geng saw huge market potential for herbal tea that could relieve ailments considered hot and masculine in Chinese medicine.

Geng created a new identity for Wang Laoji in the Chinese beverage market, based on its hot ailment curing properties, distinguishing it from other kinds of herbal tea.

Advertising costs for Wang Laoji jumped from 10 million yuan in 2002 to 40 million yuan in 2003. But sales revenue also soared from 100 million yuan to 600 million yuan. Geng estimates sales of Wang Laoji topped 10 billion yuan in 2008.

The catchy sentence from Wang Laoji's commercial, "Worried about hot illnesses? Drink Wang Laoji", became as familiar to Chinese as Nike's "Just Do it".

Chinese consumers' rising demand for healthy drinks also contributed to Wang Laoji's popularity. With incomes growing steadily on the back of China's booming economy, consumers began looking for healthier drinks. Herbal tea, with its medicinal properties, gained ground against traditional soft drinks such as soda. Other tea-based soft drinks such as bottled green tea and red tea also became popular in China.

JDB Group, Wang Laoji's producer, also bolsters its company image through good public relations. JDB Group was one of the first companies to donate 100 million yuan for disaster relief when the devastating earthquake hit China's Sichuan province in May 2008.

Chinese movie director Zhang Yimou, who dazzled the world with his Beijing Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, said Tuesday he is planning a movie to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China.

The script of the movie is being worked on, the Oscar-nominated director said on the sideline of the annual session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) that started Tuesday afternoon.

Zhang, member of the 11th National Committee of CPPCC, told Xinhua he may also consent to invitations from government agencies to orchestra a fireworks showcase gala for the anniversary celebration.

China is expected to hold grand celebration activities for the 60th founding anniversary, including a military dress parade in Tian'anmen Square on October 1, the same day when the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.