BBC's 'Horizons' examines the future growth of Chinese brands

MUMBAI: On 2 December 2011, the BBC World News ?Horizons? series visits China, currently the second largest economy in the world, to examine how Chinese brands and manufacturing are growing in significance around the world.

Horizons presenter Adam Shaw is in Shanghai where manufacturers believe that re-shaping the image of China, with good designs and presentation, will establish more desirable international brands for export to the West.

Shaw visits a company building brands around traditional Chinese values, including tea ceremonies, to find a resonance in potential export markets. He also visits a company that produces contemporary bone china designs, which are then sold to exclusive shops and displayed in five star hotels around the world.

Shaw meets Dr Chen Junsong, lecturer at the China European International Business School. Dr Junsong says; "In many markets the sale of big brand automobiles has shrunk. China is one of the markets which has a different situation. China is currently the second largest market for BMW, Audi and Mercedes and it is possible that the country could overtake the number of sales in Germany next year. The sale of many European brands in China has increased by 40 per cent, so you could say that without China, some leading European brands would be having a harder time."

Shaw said, "European brands are still very popular in China, and the rest of Asia, but the markets indicate that Chinese brands will become more influential in the future. The next generation will experience the rise of Chinese influence. Not just its economic influence, but its social and cultural influence as well. In the future it could be Chinese brands, faces and values that dominate the shelves of shops the world over."