China's service trade sees strong growth in Q1, up 8.7%

China's service trade grew significantly, reaching 1.97 trillion yuan (about $270 billion) in the first quarter of this year, up 8.7 percent from the same period last year.

Exports totaled 835.15 billion yuan, up 12.2 percent year on year, while imports reached 1.139 trillion yuan, marking a 6.2-percent growth.

Travel services showed the fastest expansion of 21.8 percent, hitting 584.9 billion yuan, with exports surging by 97.5 percent and imports going up by 14.9 percent.

Meanwhile, knowledge-intensive services continued to grow steadily, reaching 752.49 billion yuan after an increase of 2.6 percent. Exports in this category rose by 2.1 percent, totaling 436.34 billion yuan, while imports grew by 3.4 percent, reaching 316.15 billion yuan.