{"id":543917,"date":"2026-04-22T02:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543917\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T02:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:38:08","slug":"hotpot-bubble-tea-and-sportswear-chinas-new-exports-take-on-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543917\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotpot, bubble tea and sportswear: China&#8217;s new exports take on the world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Before entering Western markets, many Chinese companies have used South East Asia as a testing ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">With more than 650 million consumers who are young and increasingly affluent, the region offers scale and diversity, while competition from established Western brands keeps standards high.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Restaurant firm Haidilao opened its first overseas outlet in Singapore in 2012. It is now the largest hotpot chain in the world with 1,300 restaurants across 14 countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Haidilao&#8217;s story is not just a restaurant success,&#8221; says Zhou Zhaocheng, vice chairman of Haidilao International. &#8220;It reflects China&#8217;s 30 years of economic transformation and internationalisation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The chain&#8217;s global reach relies on a strong brand, robust ecosystem, and loyal customer base, according to Zhou. He notes that every overseas market is complex, shaped by different cultures, legal systems, and consumer habits &#8211; so localising food, menus, and service is essential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The chain is now pursuing halal certification in Indonesia and Malaysia, a move that could open up Muslim-majority markets across the Middle East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before entering Western markets, many Chinese companies have used South East Asia as a testing ground. With more&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-543917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}