According to HSBC, activity in the Chinese service sector grew markedly in October.
Qu Hongbin, chief China economist and co-head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC, said, "The modest improvement in the HSBC China Services PMI translated into faster job creation. This should in turn provide solid support for private consumption and demand for services in the coming months, despite the ongoing tightening of the property market."
That is the high-end view. There is another perspective from lower down.
Xu Chen, 27, who set up his own services business in Shanghai after leaving his job at a global consumer goods company, said considerable communications costs with different levels of government are a higher barrier than taxes.
"Every official knows that the country is making efforts to promote services, but usually it will take you no less than one year to get a food-processing license if you want to open a restaurant," he was quoted by the English People’s Daily Online as saying.