The world's first International Standard Organization (ISO) technical committee secretariat on artificial ice-and-snow landscapes was recently set up in Harbin City, northwest China's Heilongjiang Province, filling a gap in the global standardization structure for the sector.
Initiated by China and formally approved by the ISO in July this year, the committee will coordinate the development of a series of international standards tailored to indoor and outdoor artificial ice-and-snow scenarios, providing a unified technical basis for the development of the global industry.
World's first ISO secretariat on artificial ice, snow landscapes set up in Harbin
China's software and information technology (IT) service industry recorded steady growth in the first eight months of 2026, supported by rising exports and continued expansion in cloud computing and big data services, official data showed.
In the January to August period, software revenue rose 8.8 percent year on year to 10.282 trillion yuan, or about 1.53 trillion U.S. dollars, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Exports grew faster than overall revenue, climbing 12.5 percent from a year earlier to 45.99 billion U.S. dollars.
The industry also reported steady profit growth in the same period, with total profit rising 1.3 percent to 1.184 trillion yuan, or about 177 billion U.S. dollars.
Meanwhile, information technology services remained the industry's largest segment, with revenue from the segment increasing by 9.6 percent and accounted for 68.7 percent of the industry total.
Within that segment, revenue from cloud computing and big data services grew by 11.1 percent, representing 17.3 percent of information technology services revenue.
In the first eight months, software product revenue rose at a slower pace of 6 percent and accounted for 21.5 percent of overall industry revenue.
China's software, IT service industry logs steady growth in first eight months
