Chinese Savers

Here is a short summary of the reasons why Chinese are such great savers (ca50% of their income or 2.5tn USD per year). The author goes over Confucianism (Not it reading Chinese philosopher Mozi), the lack of safety nets, demography and finally their undervalued currency.

Saving Rate

The St. Louis Fed has a very nice charting tool. Here is the impressive move in the personal saving rate from 0% in April 08 to 5% in January 09. Savings went from 0 to 544bn US$.
Looking at the source data it appears disposable personal income increased by 337bn US$ thanks to lower personal current taxes of 183bn. Personal outlays decreased by 207bn US$.