10 data highlights of China's economy in H1

3. Retail sales of consumer goods

Retail sales of consumer goods rose by 8.4 percent year-on-year in the first half to 19.52 trillion yuan. Service consumption accounted for 49.4 percent of total national consumption expenditures, 0.6 percentage points higher from a year earlier.

The booming service consumption sector, including tourism and culture, has accounted for more than half of consumption expenditures, highlighting the trend of faster consumption upgrading, said Zhao Ping, director of the international trade research department of the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.