In July, offline consumption in China continued to heat up, with consumer payment amounts increasing by 2.2% year-on-year.

The latest leading indicators released by the National Development and Reform Commission's National Information Center show that in July, offline consumption in China continued to heat up, driving a coordinated improvement in both goods and service consumption. The payment amount for consumption in July increased by 2.2% year-on-year, with a growth rate accelerating by 0.8 percentage points compared to the previous month. The operational vitality of small and medium-sized merchants steadily enhanced, with the physical business vitality index reflecting the operational conditions of these merchants increasing by 3.1% from the previous month. The health index of physical merchants and the vitality index of offline consumers both showed growth on a month-on-month basis. In addition, data from the National Development and Reform Commission's National Information Center also indicate that in July, the production heat index of industrial parks increased by 1.0% year-on-year, maintaining overall stable operation. In July, the number of patent grants related to strategic emerging industries increased by 10.7% year-on-year, among which the number of patent grants related to artificial intelligence surged by 60%, with the growth rate accelerating by 21.7 percentage points compared to June, signaling that the research and development of cutting-edge technologies is entering the "fast lane."