Yang Jun, Deputy Director of the China Special Delivery Association, says the sector has come a long way since its debut at CIFTIS, China International Fair for Trade in Services.

"Over recent years, China's special delivery sector is growing at a speed three times that of the national GDP. From 2011 to 2015, we've registered an average annual growth rate of over 50%. In 2015, we've delivered 20 billion packages. Now our daily package handling capacity can reach 160 million. This year we are still maintaining a rapid growth momentum, with business volume for the first quarter exceeding that of the whole year in 2012. That's a 56.4% growth over the same period last year."

快递业走向绿色智能的未来

According to Yang, over the past five years, there have been 145,000 special delivery centers set up across the country, creating more than 1 million jobs. At the support of special delivery service, China's online shopping transaction volume reached over 3 trillion yuan annually.

But growth speed is not the sole aim of today's special delivery industry. Yang Jun explains.

"At the special delivery exhibition area, we'll try to show the visitors new directions of the special delivery industry, which is smarter, greener, and safer. We'll demonstrate to visitors the high tech's applications for special delivery, as well as our endeavors in making special delivery more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and safer."

He reveals that China Special Delivery Association is going to sign a number of strategic cooperation agreements with international trade organizations, green auto makers and green packaging businesses to encourage energy saving and environmentally friendly practices in the industry.

During this year's fair, ShenTong Express is going to debut its mail sorting robot which is also able to interact with people and even hand out red envelops.

But almost all major special delivery bosses are talking about expanding their business overseas.

Yuantong Express, a major player in the sector has outlined its international business expansion plan. Here's Qian Weihua, deputy director of media communications department of Yuantong.

"Yuantong is a strategic partner of the Alibaba group. So we say receiving your goods within 72 hours after placing your order is not just a dream. We have developed a cross border international payment system which supports online payment in various currencies just for this purpose. At this fair, we are going to sign cooperation deals with special delivery businesses from Turkey, India, Israel, and Poland. This year we'll see our businesses expand to 18 countries and regions. "

It seems there's nothing holding this black horse back in the Chinese economy. Still, we shall see which one of them runs the fastest.

For CRI, I'm Li Ningjing.