So let's now have a look at the strong growth figures for service imports. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has released its first-ever findings on this category. As of 2017, service import hit over 467 billion US dollars. That's a 3.4 percent growth year-on-year. China now accounts for 9 percent of the global service import market, making it number two worldwide. The US, Hong Kong, and Australia are among the largest sources. Tourism has seen the most growth in the last 35 years, and other sectors are right behind it.

XIAN GUOYI, DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT OF TRADE IN SERVICES AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "The scale of China's service import is far larger than export, and the structure of imports have been optimizing. New sectors focusing on technology and quality have grown continuously. The percentage of emerging sectors like telecommunication and information services, individual culture and recreational services, and IP usage charges have reached 23.8 percent, contributing to 59 percent of China's service import growth."