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TO THE POINT：Against the backdrop of the global economic down-turn, the Chinese Government has loosened its monetary policy toboost national economic growth, after detecting falling inflationarypressure. It plans to initiate a value-added tax reform program onJanuary 1 to reduce companies' tax burdens. China's property mar-ket cooled after a thriving year and grew only 1.6 percent in Octoberyear on year. The energy market also faced tremendous setbacks dueto shrinking demand for power. China's trade surplus, on the otherhand, reported a record-high gain in October.