During the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), China actually used foreign direct investment (FDI) worth 274 billion U.S. dollars, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce.

During the five years, the used FDI in China averaged at 50 billion dollars per year, ranking the third in the world and the first among all developing countries, the ministry said.

More FDI has been flowing to China's service industry. In 2005 the contracted foreign investment in the service sector totaled 21.8 billion dollars, up 38 percent year on year.

Over 24 million Chinese people are working in foreign-funded enterprises, making up more than 10 percent of the country's total urban employees.

China's coastal area still attracts most overseas investment, witnessing a growth rate of 2.59 percent in 2005.

Hong Kong is still the main source of overseas investment flowing into the Chinese mainland, and the European Union's investment in China is growing very fast.

Source: Xinhua