A recent report on the state of Chinese's women's lives in 2006 shows body beautification products are tops on their shopping lists.

The report says spending on clothes, hairdressing, body beautification and fitness costed 3,618 yuan, or about US$465 per person on average last year. The survey was carried in 20 Chinese cities, Two-thirds of interviewees said they had credit cards and 37 percent that they use credit cards when shopping.

Nearly 88 percent of interviewees say that they spend an average of 26 hours on the Internet every week. In addition to shopping at large department stores, nearly one-fifth of respondents say they also shop online.

Top brands are still the favorite of those female consumers, with 96 percent saying that they bought famous brand products last year. The average expenditure on branded products is 3,560 yuan, or about US$457.

"The Report on Chinese Women's State of Life" was released last Thursday by the Huakun Women Consumption Guidance Center and Huakun Women's Life Survey Center.

(CRI January 30, 2007)