Retail Trade in China’s Free Markets Increasing

Free markets attracted more than 10% of China’s retail trade last year and their share is increasing as the state relaxes price controls, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

The English-language daily said there are now about 56,200 free markets in China. In the first quarter of 1985, the markets reaped more than 13 billion Chinese yuan (about $4.5 billion) and sales are expected to rise 20% for the year as a whole, the report said.