China is still one of the most attractive destinations in the world for foreign investment, as almost 1,571 deals valued at 510.3 billion yuan ($80.22 billion) were signed at the 2015 China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT), which ended Sept 11 in Xiamen, Fujian province.

The fair is a global festival of investment and trade, and a total of 635 investment promotion organizations and business associations from 105 countries and regions sent delegations, with 4,000 companies in attendance, proving that foreign investment is still optimistic about the Chinese market.

In fact, the inflow of China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) had a four percent year-on-year increase in 2014, surpassing the US as the country attracting the most foreign investments last year.

The world’s FDI inflow in 2014 was $1.23 trillion, a 16 percent year-on-year decrease, data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development showed.

With the increase in labor costs and the lack of resources and energies in China, it would be natural for labor and energy-intensive companies to gradually retreat from the Chinese market.

On the contrary, China may attract more foreign firms in sectors such as international trade, finance and e-commerce in the future as the economic structure is transformed.

China attracted more foreign investment in its service sector than the manufacturing sector in 2014, a trend that is in line with the direction of economic restructuring. FDI in the service sector saw a 20.1 percent year-on -year increase in Jan-Aug this year, 10.9 percentage points higher than the growth rate of all FDI.

For global investors, China is no longer just part of the world’s production chain, but a market that still has great investment potential.