I. Main Content
The data in this chapt er reflect the development of China's domestic market and the operational and managerial condition
of wholesale and retail trades as well as cat ering trade, including the basic condition and the circulation of commodities in the
wholesale and retail trades above designated size, t he financial condition of the wholes ale, retail and catering t rades , the
total ret ail sales of consumer goods in the whole country and national transactions
of consumption goods.

II. St atistical Scope

National wholes ale and retail trades, catering industry and national transactions of consumption goods.

Major adjustments were made for total retail sales of commodities in 1993 and 1997. Starting from 1993, that indicat or does
not include means of agricultural production; starting from 1997, this indicator does not include housing purchased by
residents.

Criteria for wholesale and ret ail trades and catering industry above the designated size: wholesale trade, year-end
employees at and above 20 wit h annual s ales income over 20 million yuan; retail t rade, year-end employees at and above
60 with annual sales income over 5 million yuan; catering industry, yearend employees at and above 40 with annual sales
income over 2 million yuan.

III. Sources of Data

Data in this chapter are collected and processed in accordance wit h t he stat ist ical reporting s cheme on wholesale and retail
trades as well as catering trade by the Department of Trade and External Economic Relations of t he National Bureau of Statist
ics. Dat a on nat ional transactions of consumption goods are provided by State Adminis tration for Industry and Commerce.

IV. Survey Methodology

Data on basic conditions, circulation of goods and financial conditions for all corp orate enterprises of wholesale, retail and cat
ering trades that are above the designat ed size are collected through comprehensive reporting syst ems and data are rep
orted level by level. Data on small-size enterprises and individual enterprises below the designated size are collected through
sample
surveys.

V. In t his chapter, the sum of total retail sales of consumer goods of all provinces is not equal to the national t otal, as the
national total has been adjusted and modified in line with national accounts data and data from other departments.