China is the worlds most promising consumer market with a population of 1.4 billion and over 400 million middle income people. With per capita GDP exceeding $10,000 last year, the country has entered an important stage of consumption upgrading.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday projected that China's economy will grow by 8.1 percent in 2021, 0.1 percentage point below the October forecast, according to the latest update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO).

More than three-quarters of Chinese people were using digital payment in preference to cash by 2017 and the number has continued to rise. Eighty-six percent now use mobile payment, whether to pay utility bills, travel short or long distances, make appointments at hospital or go grocery shopping.

Lacking of skills and job opportunities have long been a problem for hundreds of thousands living below the poverty line in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, one of the main battlefields in the fight against poverty. In an effort to wipe out extreme poverty and improve people's livelihood, local government unveiled a poverty relief scheme in 2018 targeting the region's 22 poorest counties in Kashgar, Hotan, Kizilsu and Aksu prefectures.

The recovery of China's manufacturing sector remained solid last month but a challenge emerged from external uncertainties, officials and analysts said on Thursday. The official purchasing managers index for the manufacturing sector came in at 50.8 for April, versus 52 the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.