High-quality services align with China's development

The national conference on the service sector comes at a critical juncture. Its proposals aim to advance producer services toward greater specialization and higher positions in the value chain. At the same time, they emphasize fostering high-quality, diverse and accessible consumer services.

These priorities align well with the characteristics and needs of China's current stage of development. This perspective considers the country's industrial structure, as China is in the middle to late stages of industrialization.

Currently, China ranks second globally in total services trade, services imports also rank second globally. However, its services exports rank fifth, still lagging behind leading service economies.

To cultivate stronger "China Service" brands, it is essential to further open up China's service sector. This requires attracting large numbers of leading foreign service enterprises by leveraging the country's sound business environment. Encouraging coordinated development between domestic and foreign players and boosting domestic competitiveness through the introduction of external competitors can drive the growth of China's service sector, particularly high-end service brands.

A similar approach can be used to appropriately increase the import of urgently needed services. This would enhance domestic service consumption and increase public awareness and willingness to spend on high-end service brands.

Several key measures are required for the high-quality development of the domestic service sector. First, the traditional mindset that prioritizes goods trade over services trade needs to change. During downturn in goods trade, expanding services trade can mitigate associated risks and stabilize growth. Furthermore, administrative barriers such as strict licensing and approval requirements and restrictive regulations in the service sector should be removed to promote greater openness, particularly in professional services such as finance, education and healthcare.

Enterprises should focus on integrating services more deeply into manufacturing to boost the added value of services. For example, in addition to generating profit from selling electric vehicles, EV makers can strengthen brand management and offer integrated service solutions to increase the share of service-based income. Enhancing the role of services in manufacturing value added will also help China move up the medium-to-high end of the global value chain.

With China's per capita GDP surpassing $12,000, people's demand for a higher quality of life is growing steadily. Meeting these expectations requires support from high-end consumer services. Thus, initiatives aimed at expanding capacity and upgrading quality in the service sector align with the current goal of boosting consumption. Enhancing quality of life is fundamental to expanding consumption.

Wang Jun is a professor and the dean of the Institute of International Economic and Trade Research, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

The human edge of the service economy

China's service sector is transitioning from expansion in scale to a new stage defined by quality and efficiency. In the service sector, competitiveness hinges on people. What matters most is human interaction, attentiveness, emotional connection and the quality of service encounters. These are elements through which cultural and tourism services create their greatest value. Greater attention should be given to service providers and cultural practitioners, as they shape how services are perceived, experienced and remembered.

Human warmth cannot be easily replicated by technology. It enables genuine interaction between people — locals and visitors, hosts and guests — and fosters a mutual value creation in which both sides benefit. In this sense, people are not only service providers and consumers, but also the source of humanistic value and cultural confidence. Ultimately, the quality of service depends on authentic human connection.

Beyond emotional engagement, a strong "sense of place" is another key driver of competitiveness. The emphasis of the conference on lifestyle-oriented services highlights the need for higher-quality and more diverse offerings. This requires moving beyond hardware upgrades and focusing instead on service spaces and scenarios. Spaces should not be treated as neutral containers, but as localized environments that carry culture and memory, allowing services to be rooted in place rather than overly standardized.

Hainan province offers a compelling example. As a major international tourism destination, its competitiveness will remain superficial if it relies only on sunshine, beaches and luxury hotels. By integrating local elements — such as Li brocade, intangible cultural heritage, and regional dialect narratives — into the service ecosystem, Hainan's tourism sector can create a distinctive hard-to-replicate identity.

More broadly, services themselves are becoming a brand in their own right. Just as "Made in China" stands for manufacturing strength, "Chinese services" can evolve into a globally recognized brand. People-centered service and the idea of shared experiences between hosts and guests can create a strong international appeal. This not only enhances China's attractiveness in global engagement, but also helps communicate a clearer and more tangible national image, reinforcing cultural confidence through everyday interactions.

The cultural and tourism sector is a natural integrator within the service industry. Though rooted in life services, it links multiple parts of the value chain and drives broader upgrading. A single tourism experience spans transport, accommodation, catering, retail and entertainment, underscoring the interconnectivity of different services.

When effectively developed, cultural and tourism services can catalyze coordinated improvements across related sectors in real-world settings. Even a small intangible cultural heritage workshop can combine cultural experiences, product sales, social interaction, and content dissemination. This kind of integration multiplies service value. As an entry point, culture and tourism can trigger targeted breakthroughs that ripple across the wider service chain, raising both quality and efficiency at the system level.

Sun Jiuxia is a professor at the School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University.