From owning to experiencing: services trade fair mirrors China's rise as service consumption powerhouse

With just a tap on a screen, Ms. Wang watched herself instantly transformed from a modern fashionista into Mu Guiying, her favorite Peking Opera character from centuries ago. This AI-powered experience was presented by the Jingju Theater Company of Beijing at the ongoing 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).

Wang, a longtime Peking Opera fan and a first-time CIFTIS visitor from Beijing, remembered how getting an opera costume photo or video once meant tracking down a specialized studio in the city. It was a process that was both expensive and time-consuming. "Now, with AI technology showcased at the services trade fair, everyone can easily realize their Peking Opera dream."

Beyond this immersive experience, the 2026 CIFTIS, running from Sept. 9 to 13 at Shougang Park in Beijing, has brought together 413 exhibitors at the themed exhibition area for culture and tourism services, showcasing emerging models of cultural and tourism integration.

But AI's reach goes beyond the culture and tourism pavilion. Throughout the fair, humanoid robots offer bilingual explanations, brain-computer interfaces create digital paintings, and AI 360-degree photo booths generate blockbuster-style videos in real time -- all pointing to a broader trend: China's consumption is upgrading from goods to experiences.

Service consumption on the rise 

For the first time, this year's CIFTIS set up a "China Services" exhibition zone, showcasing more than 140 cases covering 12 major areas of services trade. Nearly 40 percent of the cases feature core technologies such as AI, large models and intelligent agents.

The "China Services" pavilion also shines a light on new business models and scenarios in the world of services trade. Exhibits range from age-friendly solutions designed to bridge the digital divide, to smart childcare platforms that provide integrated health management from birth through preschool.

Behind the bustling booths lies huge growth momentum and potential for China's services sector, said Wang Min, president of the China General Chamber of Commerce, at a forum during the fair.

Wang noted that people's consumption focus has been shifting from being dominated by goods to a balanced emphasis on both goods and services, with digital technologies spawning new business forms such as emotional consumption, immersive experiences and cross-border services consumption.

Official statistics echo the sentiments of many speakers like Wang at the CIFTIS. In the first seven months of this year, retail sales of services rose 5 percent year on year, outpacing growth in retail sales of consumer goods by 3.9 percentage points.

The growth came as China's per capita spending on services reached 13,602 yuan (about 2,009 U.S. dollars) in 2025, accounting for 46.1 percent of total per capita consumption expenditure.

With the steady growth of people's disposable income and improvements in the domestic consumption environment, Chinese consumers' spending on services is expected to further grow in the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), analysts noted.

According to a government plan issued by the State Council in April, the country aims to elevate the total scale of the services industry to over 100 trillion yuan by 2030.

To unlock this potential, authorities have rolled out a series of policies and initiatives. In July, China released its first five-year plan dedicated exclusively to expanding consumption, further positioning service consumption as a priority.

The plan calls for steadily raising the share of per capita service consumption expenditure, with targeted support for elderly care, childcare, culture and tourism, health and sports services.

For Li Jun, director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, the services sector's leap toward the 100-trillion-yuan mark represents not simple expansion, but a systemic upgrade in structure and growth drivers.

"The popularity of the culture, tourism, education and sports exhibition areas at CIFTIS is a vivid illustration of this trend," Li said.

Chinese services offer global opportunities 

At the sports services exhibition area, "China Hawk Eye," a Chinese-developed sports system, became a popular attraction among professional fair visitors and sports fans.

With multiple high-speed cameras capturing ball trajectories from different angles and algorithms reconstructing disputed moments into visualized 3D images, the system now serves multiple international professional events.

The system exemplifies how China has posted rapid growth in services trade. Latest official data showed that in the first seven months of this year, the country's services trade totaled nearly 4.45 trillion yuan, up 8.3 percent year on year.

In particular, knowledge-intensive services increased 6.6 percent to 1.96 trillion yuan, accounting for 44.1 percent of total services trade.

In a video address to the Global Trade in Services Summit, a landmark event during CIFTIS, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Daren Tang hailed China's rapid growth in services trade, saying that the country's strong exports of knowledge-intensive services are supported by the intellectual property and innovation ecosystem.

A report released at CIFTIS on Wednesday also highlighted the growing strength of China's services brands. China ranks second globally with 21 brands in the world's 100 most valuable trade in services brands, with a combined worth of 876.8 billion U.S. dollars, according to the report, "Trade in Services 100 2026," by brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance.

Alex Haigh, managing director of Brand Finance Asia Pacific, said by leveraging the synergies of digital platforms, communications networks and large financial institutions, Chinese trade in services brands are rising rapidly, reflecting a new trend of extending "Made in China" to "China services" and "China brands."

China's efforts to actively promote services trade and open up its services sector wider are creating more opportunities for countries and businesses around the world, experts said.

Noting that international services trade facilitation still faces barriers, Zhao Ping, president of the Academy of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, called for further leveraging the role of CIFTIS to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.