Chinese incomes continue surging in Q1

The average incomes of China's urban and rural residents continued to rise in the first quarter of 2014, revealed the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday. The average per capita disposable income rose 11.1 percent year on year to 5,562 yuan (908.82 U.S. dollars) in the first quarter. Deducting inflation, the actual growth was 8.6 percent, according to the NBS. The income gap between urban and rural residents narrowed with the actual income growth in rural China 2.9 percentage points higher than that in its urban areas in the first quarter, according to the NBS. The average urban resident's per-capita disposable income reached 8,155 yuan in the first quarter. Deducting inflation, the actual growth was 7.2 percent year on year, according to the NBS. The average rural resident's per-capita cash income was 3,224 yuan. Deducting inflation, the actual growth rate was 10.1 percent year on year. More peasants are leaving their hometown to work in other places, according to the NBS. About 169.33 million peasants were working outside their hometown at the end of March, up 1.7 percent year on year. Their average income was 2,681 yuan per month at the end of March, up 10.1 percent year on year.