let's go across to stephen engle in beijing following the data. good morning. these are disappointing numbers according to the estimates from economists surveyed by bloomberg. there is a caveat here. there is seasonal distortion because of the holiday and the later part of january and early february. let's begin with fixed assets, urban investment. 17.9% and we were expecting an average of 19.4%. i have done back in the last decade plus and this is the lowest rate for fixed asset urban investment since december 2001. 11.1% and we were expecting 13.5%. this is the lowest ace of growth are retail sales since january 2 thousand five. industrial output, cumulative 8.6% growth and we were expecting on average 9.5%. but as the lowest since 2009. spoke after the national people's congress wrapped up. what were some of the highlights of his comments? >> he touched on a lot of things. first of all, the growth targets set at 7.5% for the full year and they took a little bit of heat for that. how will you grow at this rate if you have pollution being so horrendous and tha

stephen engle of bloomberg news is there now.amworks really making a $3 billion push to draw in chinese consumers. >> absolutely. haveig hollywood studios been battling piracy, battling censorship here. they have been battling the quotas for the big films that come into china. they all want to have a foot on the ground or two feet on the ground. theirland is building shanghai disneyland that will open up at the end of this year. the box office here in china last year, domestic films out paced the big hollywood blockbusters for the first time. there is a huge market here, and dreamworks, led by jeffrey katzenberg, are building this dream center, which is going to u.s. ut $2.5 billion they will have a big movie studio, as well. onre are animators working their next films. there will be 400 animators working in shanghai by the end of next year. they will launch "kung fu panda 3," next year. i asked him what the strategy would be, and he says this center will rival the west end in london and also broadway in new york. >> we are makin

and or stephen engle covered the missing plane story as it develops on saturday. who coveredn engle the missing plane story as it develops on saturday >>. >. themployee showing up for 6:30 a.m. arrival that never came. the plane was lit up and read saying delayed for much of the early part of the morning. later in the morning as news of the missing plane spread, family and friends were asked to go to a hotel more toward the center of beijing. they met with a crash of tv cameras and other journalists including myself. it was not a very in vivo reporting job. i have to say. they had to fight their way -- in viewable reporting. -- enviable reporting job. i have to say. they had to fight their way through. one woman started wailing for her son. you could hear her wailing, understandably. the man in the first part of the video was asked if they got any information. he said nothing. he said we have been told nothing. that was the biggest complaint of family members to finally fouled out of this room after spending many hours in there. they were given no information from

stephen engle was there. let's get to him.e backdrop behind you. >> yes, an extremely rare opportunity to broadcast live from the heart of the chinese square -- innewman tian an men square. there is the actual square itself. we are right in the middle thing -- of things. the square has actually cleared out. the session kicked out this today was theded. big work report from the premier , and the big headline was status quo. 7.5% gdp growth target. that's the same target as last year. we had 7.7% growth rate last year. we are expecting a similar type of growth this year. why did they not lower the rate? jobs.mportant is and sustaining growth momentum. officials have been deemphasizing growth this past year with a new leadership team as they embark on these reforms to make it more market oriented. there are other issues discussed in the halls of power to my right. national security. domestic security. the terrorist attack. the chinese calling it their own 9/11, but pollution is a big concern on people's minds. beautiful blue skie

stephen engle has been looking into this and how will they make this happen? he's a going to happen? -- how is it going to happen? china, it'sings and all in the of the mentation and the enforcement. those are the biggest challenges. the government did start manning smoke -- banning smoking in public places. anyone who was there could see plenty of smoking going on on the steps of the great hall of the people. health andister of family planning says they are actively promoting the creation of a national law against public smoking. drafting of the law began last year. the aim is to have a state counsel possibly issue a van for smoking in indoor places like restaurants and hotel lobbies. why now? health care costs are soaring in china and many more people are dying of smoking-related diseases. in't take my word for it take a look at the statistics. >> about one million people die each year from tobacco-related illness in china. this could increase to 3 million deaths a year by 2050 if we do not take an action. of the adultn, 40% chinese population smoke. tobacco

stephen engle now reports.berg, and definitely the original dream team, but for asia 20 years later, it is katzenberg, lead, and seamen, teaming up to build a showbiz complex in shanghai. >> us is a chance for us to create a one-of-a-kind cultural and entertainment center right here in the heart of shanghai. >> his answer perhaps to the massive shanghai disneyland? >> if anything, they are, women treat one another. they don't compete. it,e may not want to admit but the perception is that katzenberg is doing what he did 20 years ago when he left disney and cofounded dreamworks. he's taking on disney, and again, surrounding himself with industry heavy hitters. .> jeffrey katzenberg called me he couldn't find a better partners to be working with your that we all shared one vision. >> that is to turn -- to transform this a 40-acre industrial site into the broadway or hollywood of china. >> this is really a behind the scenes look. we are basically in a derelict cement factory that is going to be dreamworks center in

stephen engle looks at what the government is doing to smooth the way forward. >> wouldn't you know it, on a day that i would do a story about traffic, traffic today is not too bad in beijing. perhaps it is because the pollution levels are upwards of 400 and people are perhaps staying indoors. nonetheless, the beijing government and also the governments of other big cities who have big traffic problems, they have been are stricken the number of cars on the streets every workday and for example, i cannot drive on one day of the week. there are a lot of rumors that perhaps i will be spread to two days a week to get the number of cars off the street. authorities are also tightening up the license plate lottery where they restrict the number of license plates that are actually issued every month. that was introduced in 2011. i got mine before the restrictions came into being. guy i just about hit him. that is another hazard about driving in china. so back to the lottery, the joke that it is more likely to win the actual lottery then winning a license plate lottery.

stephen engle is on the story and joins us from beijing. how significant is this? >> good morning. make theave pledged to exchange rates more market-based . this is another step in achieving not. in that sense, it is significant, but chinese authorities like to take these things in a step-by-step manner. this does not mean that full convertibility is right around the corner. they de-pegged from the dollar in 2005. in 2007, they widen the band. april, 2012, they widened it again to one percent. now they have widen it again from one percent to two percent. timing seems to signal from authorities that the currency is no longer considered just a one-way bet to appreciate. that has been the general direction. it has appreciated to around six to the dollar. u.s. now 6.15 to the dollar. growth in china is slowing and we have seen recent weaknesses. it has slid against the dollar, 1.8% since reaching a 20 year high on january 14th. what we have seen is the widening of the band from one percent to two percent. maybe the yuan and can trade every day within two percent either side of this dai

stephen engle reports. >> the party has officially kicked off. the national people's congress, the annual session of parliament being held here in the great hall of the people. this is tiananmen square over here. the delegates are being hauled off to lunch. by the way, there are new frugality measures. 17 new measures to cut down on government wasteful spending and that includes buffet lunches and no liquor out lunch. also, there is forbidden city and mounted on. as lastet the same year. last year, they exceeded that with 7.7% gdp growth. some had hoped that it would lower gdp targets to around seven percent, a signal that they were steadfastly on the path towards reform. the premier in his annual work report this morning said we need stable growth to ensure jobs. this target is in keeping with our goal of finishing building a moderately ross burress society. this will boost market confidence and promote economic structural adjustment and more importantly, he said that stable growth will ensure employment. so many other numbers to run through qui

let's get the view of our chinese correspondent stephen engle.t has the reaction been like over there? >> obviously, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of questions, few answers still so many days after that accident. has spokeni jinping on it. he said china will make all efforts to address this missing airplane issue. china has sent at least two ships to the region to help with the search. premier li keqiang has spoken with the malaysian prime minister. china's foreign minister has been in contact with his malaysian and vietnamese counterparts, urging malaysia to make an all-out effort on search and rescue efforts. that chineseday leaders are very worried, and that the news is very disturbing. the overwhelming majority of passengers on board this flight were chinese nationals. 153 of them. mysteries, of course, as well, involves these two stolen passports. how could it to passengers fly on his flight to china, of all places, with stolen passwords when china has such strict visa requirements? in the last year or so, china has laid out a three-day visa wa

joining us now is stephen engle.king this .ush to draw chinese consumers this is a big part of it. >> absolutely. all of the big hollywood studios want a piece of this china pie. last year, domestically made films had a bigger box office than hollywood imports. the big hollywood studios are groundworket their done on the ground here in china. disney is building the big, mega disneyland in shanghai to open at the end of next year. a differents taking strategy. they're going to build an animation studio as part of the new dream center. they're going to build a massive entertainment complex. times square in new york and also broadway and london's west end. movies inmaking china, for china, for export to the rest of the world. for it to be export, it needs to be of the highest quality. less than ain handful of years going to be the number one movie market in the world. we think it is a great center for us to attract the great artists here in china. we think it could be a world-class, competitive studio. >> they had the g

stephen engle is on the story. he joins us with the details. how significant is this?. we have july 2005. it is tied to a basket of currencies. then they have this daily trading band. was .03% either side of the daily. then it was changed to .5% in 2012. then it was 1%. in that it has been expanded to 2%. growth is slowing in china. we have seen recent weakness in the currency of late. havethey have done is they basically widened the daily rate from 1% to two percent. a country between either side of the reference rate. 2%. that authorities set theery morning daily fixing rate which is more important than the band itself. bank of america saying that we should expect more dollar volatility going forward. this had been widened as of this morning. further widening the band is a bleating -- little meaning right now. in much more important step is to change the rule on citing that daily rate. as he suggests shifting to a new market-based system. 3%.yuan strength and nearly 2.9% to be exact. still not fast enough for the u.s. liking. it has slid 1.8% since reaching a 20 year