Weblog with daily updates of the news on a frugal, fair and beautiful China, from the perspective of internet entrepreneur, new media advisor and president of the China Speakers Bureau Fons Tuinstra
The Hurun China rich-list has reached a record height, says Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, at the release of the 2025 ranking, according to YiCai Global. Both new technology companies and a surprising export have added to the results, he adds. Also, the rising stock markets added to the wealth of China’s rich.
Yicai Global:
A total of 1,434 individuals with personal fortunes exceeding CNY5 billion (USD700 million) made this year’s list, up 31 percent from 2024. Their combined wealth surged 42 percent to nearly CNY30 trillion. Among them, 1,198 saw their wealth rise, including 376 new entrants, while 276 saw flat or lower fortunes, and 38 dropped off the list. The average age of those on the list was 60, one year younger than last year.
Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, said the number of entrepreneurs on the list has nearly reached a historical peak, driven by a sharp rebound in China’s stock markets — with the Shanghai Composite Index, Shenzhen Component Index, and Hang Seng Index all up 40 percent to 50 percent year on year.
Hoogewerf added that the rise of new technology firms and a robust export market have also bolstered the ranks of China’s wealthy. He noted that the best-performing sectors over the past year included new energy vehicles, consumer electronics, new consumption, computing power, biomedicine, and securities services.
Marketing guru Ashley Dudarenok dives into China’s B2B marketplaces and their latest key trends, including the top-10 platforms trying to get hold of the global market, at her website Chozan. “Trust is becoming a brand asset. Alibaba’s Trade Assurance, DHgate’s escrow, and Yiwugo’s secure payments provide buyers with additional protection. Video reviews, verified supplier programs, and standardization efforts help reduce fraud while ensuring shipments clear customs smoothly,” she writes.
Ashley Dudarenok:
Cross-Border B2B Trade Growth
China’s export-led e-commerce boom is still accelerating. In 2024, cross-border e-commerce exports increased by 16.9%year-over-year, driving trade volume to 2.71trillionyuan (approximately USD 373 billion).
This surge widened trade deficits in importing countries, fueling scrutiny of the de minimis loophole that exempts low-value shipments from tariffs. Yet demand remains strong, driven by low prices, a wide variety of products, and faster shipping times.
Innovation Across Chinese B2B Platforms
Chinese B2B platforms are evolving into tech-driven ecosystems rather than static directories. Recent upgrades include:
AI-driven sourcing: Alibaba, Made-in-China, and TradeChina.com now use AI to match buyers with verified suppliers, analyze intent, and forecast demand.
Social commerce models: Pinduoduo’s group-buying concept and Temu’s gamified shopping are adapted for bulk B2B orders, letting businesses unlock discounts through collective purchasing.
Payment security: Escrow and trade assurance programs, now standard, release funds only after confirmed delivery has been made. This reduces fraud and builds buyer confidence.
Virtual and hybrid trade shows: Global Sources and HKTDC host online exhibitions alongside physical fairs, enabling remote supplier meetings and contract negotiations.
AI, Data Analytics, and Digitalization
Artificial intelligence now extends beyond product recommendations. Platforms. TradeChina.com integrates price-tracking dashboards, while Yiwugo leverages video reviews to highlight trustworthy sellers.
Digital tools also streamline collaboration. In-app messaging, video calls, and document sharing reduce reliance on email, while digitally stored contracts and invoices simplify audits. These features make B2B trade more transparent and efficient.
Supply Chain and Logistics Transformation
Fast, predictable delivery has become a competitive edge. Platforms are investing heavily in localized logistics networks:
Temu builds warehouses in the US and Europe and recruits local sellers to ensure 3–7 day delivery.
Alibaba’s Cainiao offers end-to-end logistics with customs clearance and order consolidation.
DHgate simplifies small-order shipping and expands express options.
TradeChina.com integrates freight forwarding and customs brokerage, while Yiwugo focuses on bulk shipping solutions.
These investments reflect a clear shift: logistics is no longer just infrastructure, but a core differentiator in B2B competition.
Regulation and Trust
Stricter global regulations are reshaping digital trade. The EU Digital Services Act and the US moves to restrict duty-free imports are pushing platforms toward greater compliance. Many now enforce KYC checks, export-control screening, and real-time customs data integration.
Trust is becoming a brand asset. Alibaba’s Trade Assurance, DHgate’s escrow, and Yiwugo’s secure payments provide buyers with additional protection. Video reviews, verified supplier programs, and standardization efforts help reduce fraud while ensuring shipments clear customs smoothly.
China’s leadership is this week drafting its new 5-year plan. Financial analyst Sara Hsu expects an ongoing shift from an export-driven economy to more domestic consumption, she tells at CNBC International. “China realizes it cannot rely on export as it did in the past,” she says.
The trade hawks are cleverly using targeted tariffs to make it more difficult for companies to export from China.
(US Trade Representative)“Lighthizer wants US corporations to move into other locations,” says Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Gavekal Dragonomics. His Beijing-based research group has clients who are considering doing just that, though no one has yet pulled the trigger.
“Vietnam is the obvious alternative but there are still too many potholes,” he says. Companies “don’t want to be the one to fill in the potholes. They want to wait for others to pioneer and then see if it makes sense to move.”
China's unstable economy has its beginnings not in China but on Wall Street in 2008, when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, setting off the worst economic crisis in living memory.
"In the year after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the value of Chinese exports fell by about 20 percent, which is a very big deal," says Arthur Kroeber, a founding partner of Gavekal Dragonomics and author of China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know.
In 2008, exports were the beating heart of China's economy, employing hundreds of millions of migrant workers who were working their way up China's social ladder to make up the world's largest consumer class.
"The estimates at the time were that somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 million workers in export-related industries along the coasts lost their jobs and had to return home," says Kroeber. "It was a pretty major shock to China."
How would a country accustomed to double-digit economic growth cope with tens of millions of workers suddenly out of work? China's leaders didn't wait to find out. Within weeks, they passed a historic stimulus package, injecting nearly $600 billion into the economy, an amount worth 15 percent of China's entire economy.
"It was by far the largest fiscal stimulus, in absolute terms or relative to GDP, of any economy in the world at that time," says Kroeber.
It worked a little too well.
Millions of Chinese went back to work on infrastructure projects like the world's most extensive high-speed rail network, highways and subway systems. By 2010, China was back into double-digit growth territory again.
But all this new money flowing through local governments exposed deep-seated vulnerabilities in China's political system — namely corruption, says Kroeber.
"Corruption throughout the economy, it kind of got out of control," he says. "It was pretty bad before the financial crisis. The stimulus, I think, just poured gasoline on the fire of corruption."
It has become fast the new jargon, China´s "new normal", an economic growth on a lower level. But a fast-dropping export could still hurt the country´s economy severely, warns financial analyst Sara Hsu in the Diplomat. If it realizes its restructuring agenda, that might change, but that is still an "if".
Sara Hsu:
U.S. exports to and imports from China decreased in February, falling by 14 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively. Imports of automobiles and auto parts from China fell by 22 percent. U.S. imports from China were down by 8 percent in March. Japanese exports to China also slowed, contracting by 17.3 percent year on year in February and 24.8 percent in March.
While it is a myth that China’s growth relies mainly on the production of exports, exports do contribute about 26 percent to China’s GDP growth, so that a slowdown in exports has a moderate to strong impact on GDP. The numbers directly impact GDP, and also generate anxiety among market makers about China’s economic future; for example, the Australian dollar fell almost 1.5 percent on China’s trade news, since China is a large consumer of Australia’s natural resources. Despite assurances by China’s leadership that China’s slower expansion is a healthy sign of the “New Normal,” the markets appear not to be fully convinced by this.
China’s future hinges in large part on its restructuring agenda. As such, China is attempting to move up the export value chain, and has increased exports of technology-intensive goods such as smartphones and transportation vehicles. While most of China’s high-tech export products are assembled rather than fully produced in China, home-grown technology companies are being encouraged. High-technology manufacturing will, over time, result in higher-paid jobs, higher value of production and exports, and commercial innovation. This will hopefully increase China’s export value, in time. In the short run, until China’s economy bottoms out, Europe really rebounds, and the dollar slows its ascent, we may see more surprises in the trade figures. Beijing will no doubt be hoping they won’t be as shocking as they were this time around.
"The liberalised labour market contributed to high exports, which subsidised this extremely wasteful investment by the Chinese government," said Victor Shih of Northwestern University in Chicago. "Now China's trade surplus is shrinking, and shrinking much faster than a lot of people had anticipated."
It has been hit by European and US woes, and its growing demand for food and oil must be met largely through imports. "The ability of net exports to subsidise wasteful investment will diminish – perhaps quite rapidly. That will create a big challenge for the Chinese government in the coming two to three years," said Shih. "It will take a few more years before consumption becomes the dominant factor to fuel China's growth."
With the export industry in peril yet again, China's government needs to focus on its assets back home, domestic consumption, tells business analyst Shaun Reinto the McClatchy Newspapers. Rising wages are needed to boost economic activity.
"This is hugely important," said Shaun Rein, the managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai. "If it gets this wrong, the economy is going to stall. It's a paradigm shift that everyone here recognizes needs to be done. If Europe's economy collapses and exports (from China) get hit real hard, what's going to happen to all the unemployed workers in China? The government wants to minimize the social instability risk that could happen."...
Rein, whose book "The End of Cheap China," comes out in March, says the government needs to improve access to health care, continue to hike the minimum wage — which it did in 22 of China's provinces last year — and lower import tariffs so that products aren't so expensive.
"China is no longer a cheap place to do business," he said. "You cannot rely on the export sector at all. China has to see a shift anyway to service and higher-end manufacturing," jobs with higher salaries. "Right now, manufacturing is killing the country. Pollution is high. They need a healthier economy and environment."
