Chinese imports fell in January, almost double.

Import China fell in January 2009 to 43.1 per cent compared with the first month of 2008, informs Bloomberg referring to data the Bureau of Customs of China. This fall has proven record in the modern history of the country. The export declined by 17 percent, which is also the worst result since 1998.
It is a significant drop in exports and imports in the third-largest economy, the world was the result of the global financial crisis, which significantly reduced the aggregate demand in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The pace began to drop even further because of the weekly celebration of the New Year on the local calendar. Last year the festival was held in February, and in 2009-meters - in January. In addition, the totals considerably influenced and falling oil prices. In monetary terms, the import of hydrocarbons fell by 57 percent.
  Exports to EU countries fell by 17.4 per cent in the U.S. - at 9.8 percent. Exports of electronics fell 21 percent, and steel - at 32.5 percent.
As a result, the trade balance of China in January reached a record 39.11 billion dollars. Despite global recession, China continues to increase the size of a surplus of foreign trade.
To overcome the crisis, China is attempting to place a bet on the development of the domestic market. The State has the second largest in the world program to stimulate the economy the volume of 585 billion dollars. Thus, the economy can grow, even if the consumption of Chinese goods abroad will decline.
In 2008, China's GDP growth slowed to 9 percent compared with 13 per cent in 2007. In the last quarter of last year growth slowed to 6.8 percent - the worst figure for the past six years.