China attracted a total amount of 852.6 billion U.S. dollars of foreign direct investment (FDI) from 1979 to 2008, making it the number one target for FDI among developing countries, according to latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The FDI flowing to China stood at merely 80,000 U.S. dollars in 1979. The country has endeavored to improve the foreign investment environment since the reform and opening up three decades ago and the FDI began to surge into the world's most populous nation, said the bureau.

The annual FDI increased to 40.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2000 and to 92.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.