A visitor examines an exhibitor's healthcare product at the expo in Shanghai on Tuesday. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

It was noticeable that the distinguished foreign leaders invited to give their own welcome were mainly from countries that are participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, including Egypt, Hungary, Iran, Kenya, Pakistan, Russia and Vietnam. There is a strong connection between the investment in infrastructure, transport, communications, shipping and other technologies in the BRI member countries and the opportunity to benefit from more openness to imports by China.

An important element to be significant growth of Chinese imports will be domestic demand. Throughout the increased prosperity that has resulted in China from the 40 years of reform and opening-Up, household consumption as a percentage of income has been noticeably lower than in Western economies and other Asian countries. Realizing higher household expenditure will be a necessarily element of growth of consumer imports, including luxury brands and new technical innovations. This links well with the Chinese Dream, a concept introduced by Xi in 2013, and having as one aim the doubling of the average Chinese incomes by the end of the decade. Within this some foreign exhibitors referenced their hopes in the Chinese consumer markets from the new generations – Millennials (born from the early 1980s and hence consumers in the new millennium) and particularly generation Z (born from the mid 1990s) who are seen as more open to both spending more of their income and to new trends and fashions.