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"Christmas is a fading memory in the U.S., but in Apple&amp;#8217;s Asian markets the big shopping season is just getting started.\nWhich is why retail chief Angela Ahrendts was talking to Xinhua News Thursday about Apple&amp;#8217;s plans for expansion in China.\n&amp;#8220;We are opening five new stores before the Chinese New Year this year,&amp;#8221; Ahrendts told China&amp;#8217;s state-owned news agency. &amp;#8220;Four of the stores are in brand new cities for us.&amp;#8221;\nBy Ahrendt&amp;#8217;s count, that will bring the number of Chinese Apple Stores to 20 &amp;#8212; halfway to Tim Cook&amp;#8217;s target of 40 stores in China within two years.\nGreater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, is Apple&amp;#8217;s next big market. The region generated nearly $30 billion in revenue in fiscal 2014 &amp;#8212; 16.3% of Apple&amp;#8217;s total.\n&amp;#8220;It&amp;#8217;s just a matter of time,&amp;#8221; Tim Cook said last fall, before China overtakes the U.S.\nThe Hangzhou store opens Jan. 24\nChinese New Year, which is based on a lunar calendar, falls on Feb. 19 this year.\nThe first of Ahrendt&amp;#8217;s five new stores opened Saturday, Jan. 10, in Zhengzhou, capital of central China&amp;#8217;s Henan Province. A second store is scheduled to open Jan 24 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a popular tourist destination.\nAhrendt&amp;#8217;s brief extends beyond brick and mortar to Apple&amp;#8217;s Web presence &amp;#8212; which in China is a significant factor. &amp;#8220;The fastest growing store for us,&amp;#8221; she told Xinhua, &amp;#8220;is the Apple Online Store in China.&amp;#8221; \nNearly half of China&amp;#8217; s population are Internet users, according to Xinhua, putting 632 million people within a few clicks of apple.com/cn.\nFollow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple AAPL coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.\nWatch more of the latest news about Apple from Fortune&amp;#8217;s video team:"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2015/01/15/apple-is-opening-five-new-stores-in-time-for-chinese-new-year/>