SHANGHAI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- East China Fair, the largest regional trade fair in China, is scheduled to open Thursday in Shanghai.

More than 4,000 enterprises, including 450-plus from overseas, will attend the four-day event. Over 5,700 booths have been set up in the exhibition area, which consists of five zones ranging from garments to domestic appliances.

Since 1991, the annual fair was jointly held by six provinces including Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as three cities. It is seen as a major barometer of China's foreign trade.

More than 36,000 domestic and overseas traders participated in the fair last year, generating 2.3 billion U.S. dollars of deals.

China's foreign trade volume rose 14.2 percent year on year to 27.79 trillion yuan (4.28 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2017, ending a drop during the previous two years, according to the General Administration of Customs.