China's foreign trade grew 7.8 percent year on year to $354.16 billion in July, gradually recovering from June's unexpected tumble, the General Administration of Customs said on August 8.

Exports went up 5.1 percent year on year to $185.99 billion in July, while imports gained 10.9 percent to $168.17 billion.

The trade surplus narrowed by 29.6 percent year on year to $17.82 billion in July, as import gains outpaced export gains.

In July, trade with the EU, China's largest trade partner, rose 5 percent, while that with the United States, China's second largest trade partner, rose 10 percent.

Trade with Association of Southeast Asian Nations increased 13.1 percent. Trade with Japan shrank 6.1 percent in July.

Exports of electronics and machinery grew by 4 percent to reach $102.85 billion in July, accounting for 55.3 percent of total exports.

WeChat 5.0

The battle between China's Internet titans intensified as Tencent Holdings Ltd. started allowing its WeChat users to make online payments on August 5, a move that taps into the lucrative e-commerce market, which has been traditionally dominated by its archrival Alibaba.

WeChat, the most popular messaging and social media app developed by Tencent, released its version 5.0 on August 5, in the product's biggest update since it was launched in January 2011.

The new features of WeChat 5.0 include games, scanner tools and—most importantly—payment integration, which is seen by many insiders as the most aggressive function of all.

The WeChat payment function can integrate bank accounts (credit or debit cards) with a customer's WeChat account, which allows WeChat's more than 400 million users to make purchases on several e-commerce platforms.

With the help of scanner tools, goods can be scanned using a product's barcode, allowing the user to jump directly onto the e-commerce website and order it immediately.