China's Export Shift Puts Technology, Brands and Cultural Creation at the Center of Global Trade

A 26.99 Trillion Yuan Export Economy Changes Direction

China exported 26.99 trillion yuan ($3.90 trillion) worth of goods in 2025, an increase of 6.1 percent from the previous year. Behind that growth is a change in how Chinese businesses compete: more are selling their own technology, brands and designs, with products ranging from air conditioners built for desert heat to robots, innovative medicines and ceramic holiday decorations.

The outline of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) calls for improving both the quality and performance of foreign trade and accelerating the country's transformation into a strong trading nation. The ambition is to move beyond manufacturing large quantities at competitive prices toward products whose value rests on technology, sustainability and cultural appeal.

Goldman Sachs data puts overseas operations at approximately 16 percent of Chinese companies' revenue, up from 14 percent in 2018. That is a rise of two percentage points, although the share remains below the 50 percent average for companies in developed markets. Overseas business is growing in importance, with considerable room between the two figures.

The change has three connected foundations: green infrastructure, technological innovation and cultural storytelling. Gree Electric Appliances is combining cooling with solar electricity and storage. Magiclab Robotics Technology is developing machines that perform acrobatics and factory tasks. Fujian Dehua Xinliang Ceramics Co. is adapting traditional craftsmanship to overseas holiday markets.

Other industries show the same movement toward greater value. Chinese battery makers are working with global automakers, pharmaceutical developers are securing substantial payments for their innovations, and games, toys and fashion are attracting audiences beyond China. Together, these businesses illustrate the transition from Made in China to Created in China.

Cooling Buildings in 68 Degrees Celsius

Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliances has focused on a demanding problem in the Middle East: keeping cooling equipment working where temperatures regularly exceed 50 degrees Celsius and sandstorms threaten machinery. Traditional air conditioning systems can fail within months under those conditions.

Gree's desert air conditioners operate reliably at 68 degrees Celsius. Reaching that capability took seven years of research and development, including work to overcome fundamental problems in compressor technology. The compressor is a central part of the mechanism that allows an air conditioner to remove heat.

The company built on that work with its Zero Carbon Source Photovoltaic Storage Air Conditioning Smart Energy System, commonly called the PV-Storage-Air System. Rooftop solar panels generate electricity while the equipment cools buildings. Excess electricity can be stored for use at night or fed back into the power grid.

Nearly 10,000 sets operate across the Middle East, cutting carbon emissions by approximately 110,000 tons annually. The system connects a customer's need for cooling with the ability to produce and manage electricity at the same location.

A garment factory in Saudi Arabia illustrates the financial effect. Its monthly electricity spending for traditional cooling was 80,000 yuan. After installing Gree's system, the bill fell to 20,000 yuan, a reduction of 60,000 yuan, or 75 percent. Annual carbon emissions also fell by 2,000 tons.

Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of Gree Electric Appliances, describes customer difficulties as the starting point for developing products:

Pain points create demand, and demand breeds business opportunities.

Dong says innovation means solving real problems instead of chasing short term trends. Her explanation of the time needed to build technical capabilities is direct:

There are no shortcuts in technological innovation.

Only 'slow R&D' can build solid capabilities.

Why Owning the Brand Matters

Gree's own brand accounts for nearly 70 percent of its export sales. That marks a departure from the original equipment manufacturing model, known as OEM, in which a manufacturer makes products according to another company's requirements.

Dong attributes the company's position to quality standards and technological leadership. She explains the difference between manufacturing for another business and selling under an independent brand:

OEM manufacturing involves processing according to others' standards, while independent brands define their own technologies and set their own standards.

Dong also links technical leadership to the ability to influence expectations across a market:

Once a new standard becomes a consensus, it can break down prejudices and replace old rules.

Gree's experience connects three parts of the export shift: developing equipment for a specific environment, reducing customers' operating expenses and selling the resulting technology under its own name. Its Saudi factory example also shows how industrial energy savings can support a model of sustainable development aligned with global climate goals.

Robots Move From Demonstrations to Factory Tasks

Magiclab Robotics Technology, a startup based in Wuxi, represents another part of China's move into advanced products: embodied artificial intelligence. In this field, intelligence operates through a physical machine that must sense its surroundings and control its movements.

Magiclab's humanoid robots can perform rapid rotations and aerial jumps, as well as delicate tasks such as scooping noodles and controlling water flow precisely. A humanoid robot's movement depends on software and mechanical components working together.

The Thomas Flare illustrates the difficulty. The robot must move through support, leg swing, aerial rotation and renewed support, shifting its center of gravity within milliseconds. Sophisticated motion control algorithms and precise joint modules make that sequence possible.

Gu Shitao, Magiclab's co-founder, argues that lasting commercial success depends on capability rather than attention:

Short-term buzz relies on luck; long-term success relies on strength.

Popularity should be built on product quality, not hype.

Research and development personnel make up 80 percent of Magiclab's staff. Its team has moved from following global leaders toward building technical strengths in particular areas that are difficult for competitors to reproduce.

The company's development and international expansion span several years:

• 2021: Magiclab began with basic joint development.
• 2023: The company released its first humanoid robot.
• By 2025: Magiclab had established sales and after-sales support teams in 27 countries and regions.
• By March 31, 2026: The company had completed five generations of product development.

Magiclab pursued a born global strategy from the start, building an international business instead of first concentrating on domestic consolidation. Teams near overseas customers help the company respond quickly to practical market needs.

In overseas factories, its industrial robots with four legs carry out nighttime inspections and test equipment in confined spaces. For warehouses and logistics operations, Magiclab has developed mobile robots that work alongside people.

Local investment has supported that development. In Wuxi's Liangxi district, government funds targeted small businesses at an early stage working on technically demanding products. The district invested more than 100 million yuan through an approach described as investment instead of recruitment. This support illustrates how regional industrial policy can provide patient capital, meaning money committed with time for research and development to produce results.

Dehua Ceramics Find a Holiday Market

Fujian Dehua Xinliang Ceramics Co. has spent 14 years concentrating exclusively on ceramic Christmas trees. It has developed more than 4,000 designs for different overseas festivals and exported more than 50 million pieces.

General manager Lin Liangbi began by examining the relationship between local skills and overseas demand:

What does Dehua have? What does the market want?

Dehua's porcelain firing techniques, recognized as national intangible cultural heritage since 2006, supplied the foundation. Lin chose a market beyond the crowded trade in cups and plates after seeing television coverage of foreign holidays. Illuminated Christmas trees suggested a way to combine ceramic craftsmanship with LED technology.

The resulting desktop decorations carry profit margins 15 to 20 percent higher than traditional ceramic products. Xinliang invests more than 20 percent of its annual profits in research and development, bringing continuing technical work into a business built on inherited skills.

Lin describes that relationship between tradition and product development:

Tradition is not a shackle on development, but fertile ground for innovation.

Xinliang recently worked with a glaze factory in Foshan to develop a glaze with a snow effect. It preserves the ceramic texture while adding visual depth. The innovation has been patented and is undergoing testing overseas.

Holiday designs also include turkeys and pumpkins for Thanksgiving. These details allow a product made through Chinese craftsmanship to fit the customs and celebrations of buyers abroad.

Lin explains why he sees the decorations as more than functional objects:

Products are carriers of culture.

Selling ceramic trees is not just selling merchandise. It is selling a sense of ritual.

Quality control has been essential to making that cultural appeal commercially viable. Early shipments to extremely cold climates suffered frost damage, costing Xinliang more than $20,000. The company then worked with suppliers to change the composition of its porcelain clay and glazes.

Its products now withstand temperatures from minus 35 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius. The business combines three kinds of knowledge: how to make the ceramics, how customers celebrate and how the finished objects behave in the places where they are sold.

Batteries and Medicines Compete on Value

Chinese electric vehicle brands have moved beyond an attack from below strategy based on price toward competition on quality. BYD, CATL and other manufacturers now partner with global automakers, including Ford and Mercedes, supplying battery technologies that command premium positioning.

The change contrasts with the early 2000s, when Chinese consumer electronics brands struggled to overcome negative stereotypes associated with inexpensive manufacturing. In batteries, the commercial relationship increasingly centers on technology that established global manufacturers want to use.

Chinese innovative drugs show a similar pattern. In the first quarter of 2026, outbound business development deals generated more than $3.3 billion in upfront payments, with total deal values approaching $57 billion.

Upfront payments are the money paid at the beginning of an agreement. Total deal value is the broader figure attached to the transaction. The two measures describe different parts of the same business, so the initial payments give a more immediate picture of the money committed at signing.

Average upfront payments reached $184 million, a 187 percent increase compared with 2022 levels. That means the average was 2.87 times its 2022 level. The figures reflect multinational pharmaceutical companies increasingly treating Chinese innovations as choices with high value and high certainty, rather than mainly as cheaper alternatives.

Battery partnerships and pharmaceutical agreements show two ways companies can sell innovation internationally. They can provide a technology that goes into another manufacturer's product or reach an agreement that places a drug innovation within a multinational company's business.

Games, Toys and Fashion Reach Global Audiences

Black Myth: Wukong, a video game rooted in Chinese mythology, sold 25 million copies globally, including 7.5 million outside China. Overseas sales therefore accounted for 30 percent of the total, showing the reach of a product whose creative foundation is distinctly Chinese.

Pop Mart's collectible toy Labubu has also built a global following, including celebrities Rihanna and Blackpink's Lisa. Its appeal illustrates how Chinese cultural products can compete through design and emotional attachment rather than price.

Fashion brands Juzui, Pronounce and Sandriver have appeared at New York, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks. Their work brings intangible cultural heritage, including Inner Mongolian hand-felt and Tibetan pulu weaving, into contemporary design.

A creative director described the relationship between Chinese identity and creative confidence:

Chinese designers' works naturally carry Chinese elements. Expressing the viewpoints of Chinese creators is a manifestation of self-confidence.

Xinliang's ceramics and these creative businesses use culture in different ways. The ceramic maker adapts its craftsmanship to overseas celebrations, while Black Myth: Wukong brings Chinese mythology to players around the world. Both approaches turn creative knowledge into products with appeal beyond their place of origin.

Protecting the Ideas Behind the Products

Pop Mart's success has brought a need to defend its creations. The company has taken aggressive legal action against counterfeit Lafufu dolls, which entered major retail chains, including 7-Eleven in the United States.

Chinese government factory raids and customs inspections have seized nearly 2 million counterfeit toys. The enforcement reflects Beijing's view that intellectual property protection is essential to technological self-reliance and the development of innovation.

Intellectual property, or IP, means rights associated with creations and inventions. As Chinese businesses sell more of their own designs and technology, protecting those rights becomes part of maintaining the value of their products.

After decades of counterfeiting accusations, Chinese companies increasingly operate as IP owners defending their work globally. In 2023, China submitted 47.2 percent of global patent applications, surpassing both the United States and Japan.

Pop Mart's legal action and the counterfeit toy seizures put that shift into practical terms. A company that builds demand for an original character also has a commercial reason to prevent imitations from taking its place in shops.

Service Becomes Part of the Export

Luckin Coffee and Cotti Coffee face a related challenge as they expand overseas: moving beyond low prices toward a recognizable brand experience and a reputation for quality. The warning is especially relevant in mature Western markets, where buyers also value brand image, quality and experience over price alone.

Midea is building services around the products it sells. At the 2026 Milan climate technology exhibition, the home appliance manufacturer unveiled a professional service platform covering 21 countries.

The platform includes installation incentives, technical training centers and intelligent follow-up support. These services extend the customer relationship beyond the purchase of a physical appliance and help create the support structure around its use.

Gree's equipment, Magiclab's overseas teams, Xinliang's materials research and Midea's service platform show that higher value exports require continuing work. Companies must solve local problems, maintain quality, respond to customers and protect the ideas that distinguish their products.

China's 2025 export growth sits alongside those changes in technology and business practice. The increasing overseas revenue share identified by Goldman Sachs points toward a structural shift in higher value manufacturing and services, while individual companies show how that shift is taking shape in specific markets.

Key Points

• China's exports reached 26.99 trillion yuan ($3.90 trillion) in 2025, up 6.1 percent from the previous year.
• Overseas operations account for approximately 16 percent of Chinese companies' revenue, compared with 14 percent in 2018 and a developed market average of 50 percent.
• Gree's desert air conditioners work at 68 degrees Celsius, and nearly 10,000 of its integrated solar, storage and cooling systems operate in the Middle East.
• Magiclab established sales and after-sales teams in 27 countries and regions by 2025; research and development personnel account for 80 percent of staff.
• Xinliang has developed more than 4,000 ceramic holiday designs and exported more than 50 million pieces over 14 years.
• Chinese innovative drug agreements generated more than $3.3 billion in upfront payments in the first quarter of 2026, with total deal values approaching $57 billion.
• Black Myth: Wukong sold 25 million copies globally, including 7.5 million outside China.
• Counterfeit toy seizures, Pop Mart's legal action and Midea's service platform show the growing importance of protecting brands and supporting customers.