China is likely to become a leader in innovation in key emerging industries – boosted by its young talent, government support and extending internet penetration – according to panelists attending the Fortune Brainstorm Tech International Conference in Guangzhou, part of the Fortune Global Forum conference. For a long time, China was not perceived to be an innovator in some Western countries, according to Jay Walker, Founder of online travel operator Priceline. That’s because innovation, which fundamentally is about disagreeing with the old, was not seen as intrinsic to Chinese culture, Walker explained.

But its dynamic and pioneering development in some emerging industries, such as e-commerce and high tech, is breaking that stereotype. China is capable of exponentially increasing its technological levels, with more tangible results from the e-commerce and online payment industries coming in the next few years, according to Walker. Seven Chinese companies, most of them focusing on the internet and e-commerce business, have been listed in the annual Fortune 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list published in September.

“Young talent in China are making the waves,” said Roger Luo, President of DJI, a leading civilian drone and aerial imaging technology company. The average age of his company’s employees is around 27 years old. He said an environment that nurtured entrepreneurship had helped his company to grow. In the wake of government efforts that prioritized support for entrepreneurship, young people had more opportunities to turn their innovative ideas into reality, he said. A home-grown research and development revolution is also powering the innovation process in China, creating incentives for more innovation, according to Walker.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told world business leaders in a congratulatory message that the country would continue to open up and improve its business climate to create more opportunities and make a greater contribution to the world. Xi said China would develop the open economy to a higher level, promote the Belt and Road Initiative, and push for a new pattern of all-round opening up.

The three-day Fortune Global Forum has chosen “Openness and Innovation: Shaping the Global Economy” as its theme, drawing 1,100 participants, including senior executives from the world’s top firms such as Alibaba, Tencent, Ford, HSBC and JP Morgan. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill addressed the opening session.

German retail and wholesale firm Metro has closed all its convenience stores in China less than two years after setting them up, citing what it said were “drastic changes” in the business environment, including skyrocketing rents in major cities.

Its four MyMart stores in Shanghai, which sold fresh and cooked food, as well as snacks and goods under Metro’s own Aka brand and which were located near mid to high-end commercial sites, closed at the end of September. “Due to drastic changes in the market, like the quick increase in property prices in many cities in China, the management of Metro China has decided to suspend its efforts in the convenience business,” a company statement said. “But this will not affect Metro China’s commitment to long-term development in China. We will keep expanding our sales network in China and continue to focus on four pillars – O2O stores, food service delivery, welfare and gifting and other e-commerce channels, where we can provide added value to Chinese customers,” it said.

Metro announced its move into the convenience store business in April 2016, with the first two Shanghai stores opening a month later. Metro China’s CEO, Jeroen de Groot, said at the time that convenience stores would become a key pillar to support the company’s development, and that they would work in tandem with the rest of the business to provide a further platform for consumers. However it came up against a market full of mature foreign and domestic players, while unmanned stores that are very similar to traditional convenience stores are also springing up, making for a tough operating environment, analysts said.

“One of the reasons could be that the Metro stores were very similar to Japanese convenience store chains like 7-Eleven,” said Luo Xianfei, Retail Analyst at Northeast Securities. “My Mart stores’ fresh food supply chain might not be as competitive as other players,” he added. China’s convenience store business experienced a period of rapid development in the first half of 2017, with e-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD and traditional retailers including France’s Carrefour and China’s Yonghui Superstores all accelerating their presence in the sector, the South China Morning Post reports.

Metro entered the China market in 1996, and now operates more than 80 big supermarkets in more than 50 cities.

China’s exports and imports unexpectedly accelerated last month, although analysts expect growth to continue cooling amid a government crackdown on financial risks and polluting factories. As global demand has been strengthening, consumers bought more Chinese goods, giving the economy a boost and providing policymakers room to tighten rules to curb high-risk lending. Exports in November rose 12.3% year-on-year, the fastest pace in eight months, led by strong sales of electronics and hi-tech goods, while commodity purchases helped lift imports.

The number beat analysts’ forecast of a 5% increase and compared with 6.9% growth in October. Imports grew 17.7% year-on-year in November, the General Administration of Customs said, also well above expectations of 11.3% growth and rising at the fastest pace since September. “While we still expect China’s domestic economy to cool in 2018 on gradually tighter financial policies, the November import data shows that there are upside risks to our China outlook,” said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia Economics at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong.

Tighter rules to rein in risks from a rapid build-up in debt and to cut pollution have weighed on overall activity since the third quarter. The rebound in imports comes as China’s yuan has fallen 2.8% against the dollar since hitting its 2017 peak on September 8. The latest data showed the country posted a trade surplus of USD40.21 billion for the month versus expectations for USD35 billion in November after October’s USD38.185 billion.

China’s trade surplus with the U.S. widened to the second highest total on record, according to Chinese customs data. The trade gap has been a frequent cause of complaint for U.S. President Donald Trump, who visited China last month. The surplus recorded in the first 11 months of this year has already surpassed the total for the whole of 2016. November’s trade gap rose to USD27.9 billion, up from USD26.6 billion the previous month, and was just shy of the record USD28.1 billion recorded in September.

China’s data was released at time when Washington is stepping up its pressure on Beijing to narrow the trade gap. The U.S. told the World Trade Organization (WTO) it opposed giving China market economy status. The U.S. administration has also launched an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese aluminum – independently from an industry complaint – the first time it has taken such an action against a trading partner since 1991. But during Trump’s visit to Beijing last month, he and Xi witnessed a signing ceremony for deals with a combined price tag of USD253 billion.

China’s trade surplus with U.S. in the first 11 months of this year reached USD251.3 billion, compared with USD250.7 billion in the whole of 2016, according to Chinese data. The U.S. side’s estimate of the trade gap with China is higher than Beijing’s, although it has yet to release its figures for the past month. The U.S. calculated its trade deficit with China was USD347 billion for 2016, and could rise to USD370 billion this year.

BMW is the best employer in China, according to a survey of 24.3 million respondents undertaken by the country’s largest recruitment platform Zhaopin and Peking University, while the rest of the Top 10 is dominated by local companies. BMW was the sole foreign company to make it to the top 10 list. The survey canvassed employees, graduates, academics and human resources experts, asking them to vote for their best employers based on corporate culture, image, salaries, benefits and management. “The dominance of Chinese employers on the top 10 list reflects the rise of domestic companies,” Zhaopin’s Chief Executive Evan Guo said in Hangzhou.

But he said he hoped that the list could show a more balanced mix in the future, indicating that foreign companies are not just in China for the money, but are committed to strengthening best practice in the market. Local Chinese companies are becoming more attractive to work for, as a growing economy and a vibrant environment for start-ups helped reverse the rush to join foreign firms and multinational corporations. In a survey last year, four non-Chinese companies made the top 10 list: BMW, IBM, Mercedes-Benz and Starbucks. Many Chinese companies in the new economy have also borrowed the workplace culture and perks from Silicon Valley, changing their previous staid image.

Tencent Holdings, Asia’s most valuable company and operator of China’s largest social media network, is the second best employer of 2017, while China Merchants Bank took third spot. The rest of the list was filled up by China Vanke, NetEase, PICC Property and Casualty, Baidu, SF Express, FAW Group and BAIC Motor.