About half of Chinese urban families plan to tighten their purse strings next year amid mounting inflation and stagnant incomes, a new survey has found.

Their rural counterparts feel more pressure from the current round of price hikes, with about 63 percent of them planning to cut their household consumption, according to the survey conducted by the Horizon Research and Consultancy Group in mid-October.

The survey randomly questioned 4,143 residents in seven cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, seven towns and some rural areas in seven provinces such as Zhejiang and Hunan.

The consumer price index (CPI) of China, a main gauge of inflation, surged 4.4 percent year-on-year in October to a 25-month high, stoking inflation fears, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Nov 11.

The survey suggested the lack of substantial pay rises was one of the major reasons for the planned spending cuts.

(China Daily November 17, 2010)