BEIJING — China has made solid development in commerce and trade during the past seven decades, impressing the world with investment, consumption and foreign trade hikes.

China is now the world's second-largest consumer market, with its retail sales of consumer goods at around 38 trillion yuan (about $5.4 trillion) in 2018, up from 27.7 billion yuan in 1952, Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan told a press conference on Sept 29.

Compared to $1.13 billion in 1950, China's foreign trade volume in 2018 topped the world at a whopping $4.6 trillion, among which $2 trillion came from imports, said Zhong.

As an increasingly favorable destination for foreign investment, China came in second in the world with $138.3 billion in foreign direct investment in 2018, with 960,000 foreign-invested companies by the end of last year.

China's outbound direct investment also snowballed over the past decades to rank second worldwide at $143 billion in 2018, contributing to the economic growth of local communities around the world, Zhong said.