The latest economic data, released on Oct 19, shows that China’s economy has maintained stable growth with improving quality, and added value of the service industry accounted for 52.8 percent of GDP.

As China moves toward becoming a nation with modern agriculture and IT-based industry, the service industry is becoming a major employer, contributing more than 60 percent to increased tax revenue in the past three quarters.

Premier Li Keqiang said in May 2013 that the service industry was still lagging behind, and would be one of the main directions of China’s industrial restructuring in the years to come.

Premier Li visits a working station of an express company in Yiwu, East China’s Zhejiang province, Nov 19, 2014.

In 2015, the service industry took half the share of GDP for the first time, and maintained rapid growth in 2016, becoming the main powerhouse of China’s economic growth.

As Premier Li said, protection will not help the service industry. Opening up to competition is the right way to push the industry to a higher level.

Currently, with pilot programs being conducted in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the service industry will be opened up to both private and foreign capital across the nation.

Premier Li inspects a new tech lab of Huawei in Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong province, Jan 4, 2015.