The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of the country's inflation, has become one of the most mentioned topics among Chinese people in the past five years.

Soaring food prices in 2010 cast a shadow over the country's banner growth, triggering the prevalence of a series of Internet buzzwords such as "Kidding Mungbean" and "Brutal Garlic."

Continued inflation in 2011 caused more worries. Even with a sharp fall last November, the country's CPI rose 5.5 percent year-on-year during the January-November period, well above the government's full-year inflation control target of 4 percent.

Inflation control remains one of the most important tasks in 2012 for the central government. The CPI increase is predicted to fall to 4.6 percent in 2012, according to the annual economic blue book released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

消费者物价指数（CPI）是判断一个国家是否出现通货膨胀的重要衡量标准。在过去的五年中，CPI成为中国人最常谈论的话题之一。

2010年食品价格疯长，为中国经济的高速增长蒙上了一层阴影，同时引发了“豆你玩”和“蒜你狠”等一大批网络热词的流行。

而在2011年，持续通胀引起了更多人的担忧。2011年1-11月，中国的CPI累计同比上涨5.5%。尽管在11月份CPI涨幅明显回落，但仍然超出了政府设定的2011年CPI预期调控目标——4%。

中国社会科学院发布的《经济蓝皮书》显示，在2012年，中央仍然把治理通胀作为宏观调控的首要任务，预计2012的CPI涨幅将回落至4.6%。