Taking a longer perspective, however, even with the booms and the busts that have characterized the West for upwards of 200 years, the West is still the fastest growing region of the United States. Since 2000, real GDP has grown twice as fast in the West as in the Northeast and Midwest, and about 30 percent faster than in the South.
Since reform and open-up, China's financial sector has made substantial progress, and subsequently the Chinese people have come to know more about financial products and services. However, as financial education for the average people is still underdeveloped, their financial knowledge and ability to use financial services has lagged behind compared with the sector's development.