China is already known for its manufacturing for consumer products. Its domestic market has been the world’s second largest with retail sales expected to exceed RMB 50 trillion, or $7 trillion, in 2025. In the first six months, total retail sales reached RMB 24.55 trillion, a 5% year-on-year increase.

It has a vast and dynamic landscape characterized by selective spending, a strong digital integration, and shifting consumer priorities. While its consumer confidence has been subdued due to economic uncertainties, actual retail sales are showing a steady, albeit moderate, and recovery particularly in sectors related to wellness, experiences, and value-for-money products.

With its excess production capacity, China is now aiming at the international market. This time it is going to bring in consumer products under its own brand names. Earlier on, in our July issue of International Apparel Journal and under the piece titles, “China the Giant Juggernaut – Part 22,” we have already a piece titled “China is Entering into the World Market with Its Own Brands.” In that piece we listed consumer categories like:

Personal Care & Beauty
Fashion & Apparel
Consumer Electronics
Food & Beverage
Home & Daily Goods
E-Commerce & Digital Services

More and more, we have seen the Chinese brands started to come to this country. Their brands are hard to pronounce sometimes. This is the difference of the mother tongues, as well as the cross-cultures being used for naming. In fact, many people have experienced when encountering Chinese brand names. It is rooted in language structure, cultural symbolism, and branding strategy.

We have to bear in mind that the language structures—Chinese and English—as well as other Western language, are vastly different in sound and structure. We can look into the following areas:

Chinese language in tonal and each syllable carried meaning through tone, when they are translated into English, they are using pinyin, and the tone is lost. In many cases they are leaving names that t=may sound odd or unfamiliar to none-Chinese speakers.

Many Chinese brand names ate two or three syllables long, often with consonant-vowel combinations, which are uncommon in English like “Haier” or “Xiaomi,” which Westerners would find them hard to pronounce naturally.

Words like dragon, pronounced like lóng, fortune, pronounced like fú, and prosperity, pronounced like cháng, often appear in brand names because they carry important symbolic significance. Western branding tends to favor, memorable, and easy pronounceable names, like Apple, Nike, Ford and the like. They tend to be “crisp” when pronouncing.

When Chinese brands go global, transliteration can only keep the sound but loses its meaning. Take for example with the name “Huawei,” it is a typical Chinese name, but very few non-Chinese would know it means “splendid achievement for Chinese,” and none will remember or care for its meaning. 

“Xiaomi” could have been translated into “little grain,” but “Xiaomi” doesn’t sound like a tech company. 

These two Chinese companies, Huawei and Xiaomi are globally famous, but only a handful may know its meaning in Chinese.

And because of these linguistic and cultural gaps, it can be hard for global consumers to remember or pronounce their Chinese names.

But Chinese marketers are learning fast and many of them have started to hire international brand consultants to create names that resonate cross-culturally. Some are using symbolic storytelling rather than literal translation to build resonance. Some companies even adopt dual branding by keeping the Chinese name for its domestic market and creating a new English name for using abroad.

As the Chinese global influence grows, we are likely to see more bilingual attuned names. And once these cultural barriers can be overcome, China can have easier assess to the other markets. We can share the following market potentials for consideration.