Major enterprises in China's cultural sector and related industries saw steady growth in both revenue and profits during the first three months of the year, official data showed on Tuesday. The 80,000 surveyed enterprises raked in nearly 3.4 trillion yuan (about 470 billion U.S. dollars) in combined revenue in the first quarter, up 6.2 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than the full-year figure for 2024, the bureau said.

China's services trade saw steady growth in the first quarter of the year, including a steep increase in the trade of travel-related services, official data showed on Tuesday. The country's services trade totaled 1.97 trillion yuan (about 273.5 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, up 8.7 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Services exports reached 835.15 billion yuan, up 12.2 percent from a year earlier, and services imports rose 6.2 percent to 1.14 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 303.88 billion yuan.

China announced Tuesday a campaign to eliminate and rectify market access barriers in the latest effort to promote the development of a unified national market. According to an official notice, the campaign will target local laws, regulations, administrative documents and other policy papers that contravene national market access requirements, as well as practices by governments at various levels that improperly impose restrictions on market entry. The government aims to establish long-term mechanisms -- including the collection of clues, verification and rectification of problems, and public notification of typical cases -- to ensure continuous efforts to safeguard fair market access.

China is accelerating the development of international consumption center cities to further stimulate inbound spending. The country is working to transform five cities -- Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing -- into major shopping centers. In 2024, the number of inbound foreign travelers to these cities doubled compared to the previous year. Together, they now account for nearly 70 percent of the country's departure tax refund stores and more than half of imported consumer goods. China also plans to host more high-level international sports competitions and performances. It is supporting the growth of new sectors such as recreational vehicle camping, cruise tourism, and motor racing to provide overseas visitors with a wider range of modern, dynamic experiences.

China's local governments issued new bonds worth nearly 1.24 trillion yuan (about 172 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Monday. Of the total, special bond issuance came in at nearly 960.3 billion yuan, while the issuance of general bonds amounted to 279.1 billion yuan. During the January-March period, local government bonds were issued with an average term of 17.2 years and an average interest rate of 1.97 percent. In March alone, new local government bonds issuance totaled 437.5 billion yuan.

Foreign passenger traffic through the Zhuhai land port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has skyrocketed by 70 percent year on year, with over 172,000 international passenger trips recorded across the mega bridge as of Sunday, according to official data. The rising figures are largely attributed to China's expansion of visa-free policies, with the Zhuhai land port of the bridge serving as the only land port on the Chinese mainland offering direct road access to Hong Kong International Airport. As of Sunday, overall passenger trips across the bridge had risen 18.9 percent year on year to exceed 10 million, reaching the milestone 25 days earlier than in 2024.

China is expected to see an average of 2.15 million daily border crossings during the five-day May Day holiday, representing a 27 percent increase from last year, according to the National Immigration Administration (NIA) on Monday. The peak of cross-border travel is anticipated on May 1 and May 5. Traffic at China's major international airports is set to grow steadily, with Shanghai Pudong expected to lead with 101,000 daily crossings, followed by Guangzhou Baiyun at 50,000 and Beijing Capital at 45,000, the administration said.

China will maintain the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level, Zou Lan, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), told a press conference on Monday. The U.S. announcement of tariff hikes on multiple economies has triggered sharp fluctuations in the global financial market, Zou said. However, China's financial market has demonstrated strong resilience and operated smoothly, he added. For a long time, China's investment concerning foreign exchange reserves in the international financial market has oriented toward safety, liquidity, and preservation and appreciation, and the investment portfolio has been effectively diversified, he said.

China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) maintained steady operations in the first quarter of 2025 as their combined profits registered a 1.7 percent increase year on year, according to official data released Friday. During the period, Chinese SOEs' total operating revenues reached 19.85 trillion yuan (about 2.75 trillion U.S. dollars), remaining flat compared to the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, their combined profits topped 1.09 trillion yuan, data from the Ministry of Finance showed. The SOEs saw their debt-to-asset ratio reach 65 percent at the end of March, up 0.1 percentage points from the level a year ago, according to the data.

The value of China's international trade in goods and services reached 4.27 trillion yuan (about 592.57 billion U.S. dollars) in March, up 6 percent year on year, official data showed Friday. Of the total, the export of goods stood at 2.13 trillion yuan and the import reached 1.52 trillion yuan, resulting in a surplus of 603.4 billion yuan. The export of services reached 239.3 billion yuan and the import reached 379.1 billion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 139.8 billion yuan, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. In U.S. dollar terms, the country's exports of goods and services amounted to 329.9 billion U.S. dollars in March, while the imports were 265.3 billion U.S. dollars, resulting in a surplus of 64.6 billion U.S. dollars.

China unveiled a set of measures on Sunday to further optimize its departure tax refund policy to meet overseas tourists' needs better and expand inbound consumption. The minimum purchase threshold for departure tax refunds has been lowered, allowing overseas travelers to apply for a refund if they spend at least 200 yuan (about 27.75 U.S. dollars) at the same store on the same day and meet other relevant requirements, according to a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and five other government departments.

The combined profit of major industrial enterprises went up 0.8 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2025, a reversal of the 3.3 percent decline in 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday. The growth ended the profit downturn that had persisted since the third quarter of last year, NBS statistician Yu Weining said. Industrial firms with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.78 million U.S. dollars) saw their combined profits reach 1.51 trillion yuan during the first quarter.

China intensified efforts to combat intellectual property (IP) violations in 2024, with strengthened law enforcement and international cooperation, an official said Friday. Market regulators handled 44,000 cases involving trademark, patent and other fields last year, with a total case value of nearly 1.13 billion yuan (about 156.8 million U.S. dollars), Bai Qingyuan, deputy director of the State Administration for Market Regulation, told a press briefing, citing an official report on fighting infringements and counterfeiting. China has comprehensively optimized its mechanisms to combat infringements and counterfeiting, the report said.

As China marks the 10th anniversary of establishing three pilot free trade zones (FTZs) in its coastal regions, the country has demonstrated its unwavering commitment to deepening reform and advancing high-level opening up. Over the past decade, the pilot FTZs in Tianjin municipality and provinces of Guangdong and Fujian have yielded numerous achievements in institutional innovation, trade facilitation and industrial development. To date, China has set up 22 pilot FTZs. In 2024, they attracted 28.25 billion dollars of foreign direct investment in actual use, accounting for 24.3 percent of the country's total, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China will speed up the digital-intelligent transformation of the pharmaceutical industry as part of the country's broader efforts to advance new industrialization and boost its strength in manufacturing, an official document released Thursday showed. By 2030, large-scale pharmaceutical enterprises in China will essentially achieve full coverage of digital-intelligent transformation, according to a plan issued by seven government departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Health Commission.

China's Ministry of Finance said on Thursday that it has allocated 47.1 billion yuan (about 6.54 billion U.S. dollars) to support water conservancy projects across the country, including those to enhance flood and drought prevention. Of the total, 22.1 billion yuan will be used to support the management of small and medium-sized rivers with a basin area of 200 to 3,000 square kilometers, the treatment of flood control channels, and the maintenance of water conservancy projects, according to the ministry. A total of 9.8 billion yuan will be allocated to support rural water supply and agricultural water conservation projects. Some 15.2 billion yuan will be used for projects including lake and river management and soil and water conservation, according to the ministry.

China's total outbound direct investment (ODI) rose 6.2 percent year on year to 40.9 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, according to data released Thursday by the Ministry of Commerce. In the first three months of the year, non-financial ODI went up 4.4 percent to 35.68 billion dollars, He Yadong, a ministry spokesperson, said at a regular press briefing. Non-financial ODI in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 8.87 billion dollars in Q1 -- increasing by 15.6 percent year on year. During this period, turnover of overseas-contracted projects amounted to 34.18 billion dollars, up 5.5 percent year on year. The value of new contracts for such projects, meanwhile, surged by 26 percent to 58.67 billion dollars in Q1.

China has implemented a series of measures to enhance intellectual property (IP) protection for private enterprises, ensuring a supportive environment that nurtures their growth, said the country's top IP regulator on Thursday. According to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), national IP protection centers in 2024 received over 240,000 patent pre-examination requests from private enterprises, providing them fast, timely protection. Nationwide IP departments also handled 37,000 patent infringement cases involving private firms last year, offering multiple dispute resolution channels.

China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Wednesday issued yuan-denominated sovereign bonds worth 12.5 billion yuan ($1.71 billion) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), according to the results of tenders released by the HKSAR government. The issuance includes 4 billion yuan for two-year bonds along with another 4 billion yuan for three-year bonds, 3 billion yuan for five-year bonds and 1.5 billion yuan for 15-year bonds. The issuance was met with strong investor demand, achieving an oversubscription rate of 3.07 times. This year marks the 17th consecutive year that the MOF has issued yuan-denominated sovereign bonds in Hong Kong, CCTV reported on Wednesday.

China on Thursday issued this year's first batches of ultra-long special treasury bonds and special treasury bonds designed to support large state-owned commercial banks in replenishing capital. According to this year's government work report, a total of 1.3 trillion yuan (about 180.31 billion U.S. dollars) of ultra-long special treasury bonds will be issued, 300 billion yuan more than in 2024, while 500 billion yuan of special treasury bonds will be issued to support large state-owned commercial banks in replenishing capital.

China has further shortened its market access negative list, which specifies fields that are off-limits to both domestic and overseas market entities, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on Thursday. The new version of the market access negative list reduced the number of items from 117 to 106, a decrease of 11 items, according to the NDRC, China's top economic planner. Replacing the version issued on March 12, 2022, the new version of the list was jointly published by the NDRC, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration for Market Regulation, after approval by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.