BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese women from the age of 31 to 40 have the strongest purchasing power, the Workers' Daily reported here Friday.

The spending of women in their 30s on beauty treatment, entertainment, cosmetics, clothes and books, far exceeds women of other age groups, a survey was quoted by the paper as saying.

The survey, conducted by Hua Kun Women Consumption Guiding Center, the first center of this kind in China, collected 1,000 valid questionnaires from women aged between 20 to 70 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changsha, Chengdu, Nanning, Harbin and Xi'an.

Modern Chinese women tend to make independent purchasing decisions, the paper said.

The 46.5 percent of married women decide how to use their incomes by themselves, 51.3 percent decide together with their husbands and only 2.2 percent give the decision-making power to their husbands, the survey said.

The survey also disclosed that household consumption is decidedby women. Women's propensity to consume influences household spending.

"the 77.3 percent of married women choose the food, clothes, and daily necessities for their families," the survey said.

The spending propensity of urban women has upgraded from havingenough to eat and wear to improving their living quality.

"Some 80 percent pay attention to balanced and nutritious diets," the survey said.

Facing growing pressure from jobs and families, women choose different ways to relax, the statistics show.

The average spending of the surveyed on beauty products is around 825.1 yuan (103 US dollars) this year and 1222.4 (128.9 dollars) on traveling, the report said.

Meanwhile women have not forgotten to improve themselves.

"In the past three months, 55.6 percent have joined various kinds of training programs," the survey said.