China's retail sales rose 12.8 percent on-year to 584.7 billion yuan (US$71 billion) in October, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics here Monday.

Retail sales in urban areas during the period rose 13.6 percent to 390.5 billion yuan (US$47.6 billion), whereas retail sales increased by 11.2 percent to 194.2 billion yuan (US$23.4 billion) in rural areas.

Previous statistics showed that in September, the figure came to 549.5 billion yuan, up 12.7 percent over a year earlier.

In October, Chinese diners spent 15.8 percent more than in the same month last year. Retail sales of telecommunication products went up by 26.9 percent and auto retail sales increased by 26.7 percent.  
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2005)