Seeking quality in economic slowdown, China consumer news digest #66 | Following the Yuan
A push and pull between quantity and quality in China's consumer market
Hi it’s Yaling. Welcome to another monthly consumer news digest, where I compiled top China news from consumer culture, food & beverage, fashion & beauty, retail, tech, sports, travel & tourism, and pets in one issue.
There’s a common pattern of push and pull in this year’s China consumer happenings where competition is cutthroat and businesses are adapting to volume-over-quality expectations, while regulators and some players are trying to apply the long-term outlook by driving quality.
This will continue to be an interesting lens to observe in the coming years.
🎭 CULTURE
Official push for high-quality (TV) content // Like how Spotify carries playlists of TikTok songs, China’s media regulator now encourages high-quality short reels to go on TV. This is one of the many measures, including making content review more efficient and prioritizing ultra-hi-fi shows, that the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) wants media operators to adopt. This reflects the anxiety of a mobile and short-video dominated media environment.
Reviving Hong Kong celebs // HK celebs who have kept a low-profile are re-entering the eyes of the Chinese public. Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the two stars of Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love, joined RedNote on Aug 8 and became the face of American shoe brand SKECHERS for APAC on Aug 11, respectively.
🍽️ FOOD & BEVERAGE
“New-Chinese-style” teahouses step up // After 2023 saw top tea chains including Nayuki, Chagee and HeyTea opening premium spaces across China, the initial enthusiasm wore off last year. But now, the teahouse trend is back in the spotlight — In July, tea'stone’s flagship store in Beijing designed a tea-inspired menu with 45 dishes, while some brands in high-tier cities have started offering Chinese fortune telling services. To fulfill Chinese consumers’ never-ending appetite for novelty, they gotta do what they gotta do.
McDonald’s China x China Post // As part of an immersive summer campaign, McDonald’s turned 13 flagship across China into “McDonald’s Island” and collaborated with China Post on limited edition postcards. Thank you for giving us an affordable ‘check-in’ option on our trips!
💄 FASHION & BEAUTY
“Slanted eye,” produced by Swatch for China // On Thursday, large numbers of netizens on several Chinese social media platforms protested against a Swatch men’s advertisement, accusing the model’s “slanted-eye” look of discriminating against Chinese and Asians. Swatch removed the images and apologized over the weekend. Honestly, I’m tired of analyzing foreign brands same-old missteps, and quite baffled about how no one on the China team flagged this?
2025 Qixi campaigns // For this year’s Chinese Valentine’s Day, we are once again seeing glossy short films and capsule collections (e.g. Dior and Miu Miu). The marketing war on Qixi was started by Dior in 2016, when China’s luxury sales was booming. Today, with middle-class consumers returning to necessary spending, Qixi marketing has become a bit of a burden than a celebration of creativity. Among the marketing options, podcast has emerged to be a cost-effective way to show a brand’s emotional layers, both Blancpain (under Swatch Group) and LVMH’s Tiffany’s agree. [Listen to Tiffany’s I, the Subject of Love (我，是爱的主语) and Blancpain’s Trailblazers (开路的人) on Xiaoyuzhou]
🛍️ RETAIL
Seeming truce in price war // The price war led by three real-time delivery giants — Ele.me, Meituan and JD.com — has battered food and beverage businesses, especially the small to medium ones with little negotiating power. On July 18, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) subpoenaed these three platforms and demanded fair competition. On Aug. 1, they collectively announced to be ‘anti-involution’…while they are the ones who started the problem.
🧠 TECH
Humanoid Robot Games // The world’s first Humanoid Robot Games ran in Beijing from Aug 14 to Aug 17. 288 teams, representing 192 universities and 88 companies, have competed in traditional sports categories including athletics, football, and martial arts, as well as professional service scenarios in medical and hospitality. Before you worry about (Chinese robots) taking over the world, they really aren’t there yet. Online clips show them tripping in boxing rings and on stairs, and many can barely run in a straight line.
🏃♂️ SPORTS
From amateur to pro // Li-Ning officially launched the LNRC Li-Ning Running Club’s “Forged into Excellence (百炼成杰)” program. For the first stop of the program, nearly 50 marathon elites gathered in Yunnan for a two-week national team-style training. Starting from late September, the program will expand to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other cities.
Women’s high-pole lion dance duo // On August 13, fitness app Keep released short film Lion Leads the Way, spotlighting Li Yuelan and Wei Chunwan from Guangxi Normal University’s Dragon and Lion Dance Team. High-pole lion dance is an extremely challenging discipline that requires performers to leap and flip atop poles only a palm’s width wide and several meters high.
🌍 TRAVEL & TOURISM
Surging popularity for premium hotels in tier-4 tourism cities // China Tourism Institute forecasted that the number of domestic tourist trips this summer could exceed 2.5 billion, hitting 115% of 2019 levels. Four and five-star hotels in tier-4 cities have become the growth engine. Meituan data shows that the number of room nights surged by 300% in Baoshan, 190% in Dali, and 120% in Datong — outpacing the 25% growth rate in tier-1 cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen.
🐾 PET
Traditional Chinese medicine goes global for pets //On Aug 18, Rongxiu Shengsheng and Nanxing tech announced a strategic partnership to take TCM for pets worldwide. The two sides will deeply integrate research on plant-based active ingredients with Chinese characteristics and intelligent production technologies for veterinary medicine.
🗓️ UPCOMING – PICK & CHOOSE YOUR CHINA ITINERARY IN AUG/SEP 2025
Aug 20-24 Petfair Asia, Shanghai
Aug 26-28 Asia Adult Expo, Hong Kong
Aug 27-29 All Food Expo, Shanghai
Aug 29-31 Beijing International Bicycle Exhibition, Beijing
Sep 19-22 Art International Expo Beijing, Beijing
With editorial help on translation and polishing from ChatGPT.
This Thursday, I have a scheduled coffee chat with paid subscribers on China’s first-ever childcare subsidies. If you’re interested in attending, please RSVP with Yes, or DM me on Substack/LinkedIn before the day to receive a Zoom link!
