China's per-capita dining expenditure this year is 100 times that of the year 1978, and Guangzhou citizens spend most on dining among all Chinese, according to official statistics.

"The increase in disposable income is the main cause for the growth," said Xu Min, an official from the Commercial Reform Department of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, at a recent national catering exposition held in this capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The ministry's statistics show that today a Chinese spends about 576 yuan (US$71) on food and drink on average a year, which is 100 times that of 1978.

Residents in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, spend 4,143 yuan (US$512) per-capita on dining yearly, which is over seven times the national average. Shanghai citizens rank second in dining spending in the country, spending 1,500 yuan (US$187) per-capita a year.

The rise in food spending was mainly driven up by the increase in the disposable income of China's urban and rural dwellers, which increased 7.7 percent and 6.8 percent year-on-year, respectively, in 2004.

The change in dining habits is also attributable to the improvement of restaurants' hygiene and services. More and more urban Chinese prefer dining out to eating at home. In Chengdu, about 70 percent of citizens said they dine in restaurants very often.

Holiday dining has become popular everywhere in China. The week-long Labor's Day national holiday in May brought in 302 million yuan (US$37.3 million) to 158 major catering enterprises, according to the ministry's statistics.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2005)