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(September 23, 2005, Wuhan) Today, one of the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart celebrated the grand opening of its second Supermarket in Wuhan, Wal-Mart Supercenter Wuhan Xudong Street Branch, located at No. 18, Xudong Street, Hongshan District. Mr. Li Fusheng, Secretary of CPC Hongshan District Committee, and Mr. Xia Guohua, Deputy Magistrate of Hongshan District government attended the ceremony. In addition, attendees from Wal-Mart include Mr. Joe Hatfield, Senior Vice President of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and President & CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, and Mr. Stanley Yu, Vice President and COO of Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd.

At the opening ceremony of Wal-Mart Supercenter Xudong Street Branch, Wal-Mart donated RMB 100,000 to Wuhan Environmental Protection Association to sponsor the solar lamp energy saving and education project in Hongshan green communities and charity primary schools. It is expected that the project would save about 8,000 kilowatt-hours per year. Wal-Mart sponsored 500 Wuhan children with free medical treatment on their decayed teeth before.

Mr. Stanley Yu, Vice President of Wal-Mart China addressed that Wal-Mart has been operating 48 outlets in 23 cities since it entered China nine years ago. With its “Every Day Low Prices” operation philosophy and superior customer service, Wal-Mart has obtained the acknowledgement from Chinese customers. In 2004, Wal-Mart opened its first Wuhan store in Zhongshan Road, which has accomplished satisfactory performance. Many Hubei local products have been brought into Wal-Mart’s local and even national procurement system. Items include household electronic appliance, dried food, dairy, vegetable, deli, tobacco, alcohol, candies, etc. These local products, accounting for 25% of the entire assortment in the store, not only diversify Wal-Mart’s merchandise assortment but also bring along the development of Wuhan manufacturing industry. With the great support of Hongshan District Government, Wal-Mart’s second Wuhan store on Xudong Street successfully opened. The new store’s appearance in Wuhan is anticipated to win popularity among local consumers and to promote local economy as well.

Located at Shopping Mall underground, No. 18, Xudong Street, Hongshan District, Wal-Mart Supercenter Xudong Street Branch sells about 20,000 items, including fresh food, apparel, home appliances, cosmetics, etc., and has three self-support services featuring optical service, jewelry and one-hour photo service. With a construction area of 18,000 square meters, the new store is the largest one-floor store of the Wal-Mart Supercenters in Central China.

Supercenter is a major business format of Wal-Mart in China, which is aimed to provide customers high quality merchandise at low prices by the “Every Day Low Price” principle, excellent shopping experience through Wal-Mart associates’ commitments to aggressive customer service and save them money and time by providing One Stop Shopping experience through almost 20,000 items. As a return to customers’ support, Wal-Mart offered great promotional valued merchandise and provided a series of retailtainment events during the grand opening.

Wal-Mart China opened its first Supercenter and SAM’S CLUB in August 1996 in Shenzhen. Up to now, Wal-Mart China has been operating 48 stores in 23 cities, including Shenzhen, Kunming, Fuzhou, Dalian, Xiamen, Shantou, Dongguan, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Changsha, Beijing, Nanchang, Jinan, Qingdao, Tianjin, Nanjing, Nanning, Wuhan, Guiyang, Taiyuan,Chongqing and Shanghai. Wal-Mart Supercenter Wuhan Xudong Street Branch is the 49th unit in China.

Wal-Mart adheres to the corporate culture of “Respect for the Individual, Service to Our Customers and Strive for Excellence”. Wal-Mart’s direct and indirect procurement from China exceeded USD 18 billion in 2004, which made tremendous contribution to China’s economy and foreign trade development. Wal-Mart also actively contributes to various charitable programs. Since 1997, Wal-Mart’s donations to various charitable organizations have reached over RMB 20 million.

Wal-Mart is one of the world’s largest retailers. In 2004, Wal-Mart achieved global sales of USD 285.2 billion. It topped the Fortune Global 500 for four consecutive years and was also named as one of the “Most Admired Companies” and the “Best Companies to Work for” in many countries. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million associates worldwide, operates over 5,000 stores and receives nearly 140 million customers in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, South Korea, Germany and UK weekly. Wal-Mart owns a 42% interest in Seiyu, Ltd., a leading retailer with over 400 stores throughout Japan.