Photo taken with drone on Sept. 7, 2018 shows a square decorated with oversized Russian Matryoshka dolls in Manzhouli city of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Manzhouli, a border city with Russia, is benefiting from import and export trade between the two countries and witnessed a rapid economic and social development since China opened up to the world 40 years ago. China's foreign trade rose 9.7 percent year on year to a historic high of 30.51 trillion yuan (about 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Monday. Exports rose 7.1 percent year on year to 16.42 trillion yuan last year, while imports grew 12.9 percent to 14.09 trillion yuan, resulting in a trade surplus of 2.33 trillion yuan, which narrowed by 18.3 percent. Exports and imports of products under the general trade category surged 12.5 percent year on year to 17.64 trillion yuan, accounting for 57.8 percent of the total foreign trade, 1.4 percentage points higher than 2017. (Xinhua/Zou Yu)
