The rebound is mostly being driven by external demand. Exports have done well and government fiscal support coming earlier in the year than usual have helped. The bigwig policy makers in Beijing and your provincial capital appear to be leaning on these levers to aid growth, even as domestic consumption remains subdued and confidence fragile.  

As usual with announcements like this, recovery isn’t even. While headline growth is improving, underlying demand dynamics tell a more cautious story. Consumer spending isn’t yet where economists would want it to be. That’s likely a reflection of continued worry over the property downturn mixed with broader uncertainty around the economy. Investment-wise, the story also remains unflattering. All of this keeps the economy hooked on exports, with domestic demand still waiting in the wings. 

Energy prices are also at play here, and in a way that fluffs the numbers a little. Costs are rising. And as they rise nominal growth gets a boost – but it’s more inflation than real momentum. Strip out that price effect and the recovery starts to look a lot less convincing. 

The Dao view: Chinese Q1 2026 economy growth isn’t something to clap for yet

Looking ahead, momentum may prove difficult to sustain. Export strength is already showing signs of softening towards the end of the quarter, while policymakers face the ongoing challenge of boosting domestic demand without resorting to large-scale stimulus. 

The fancy figures of this first quarter look like it’ll fit into an all too Chinese economic cycle: stabilisation coming from policy support and external demand, but with underlying structural weaknesses – domestic consumption, we’re looking at you – still unresolved. 

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Born in Beijing in 1999, Yuqi first entered the industry through Cube Entertainment, debuting in 2018 as a member of (G)I-DLE. The group’s success gave her an early global platform, but Song Yuqi’s individual appeal has been built just as much outside music. Appearances on Chinese variety shows such as Keep Running and her own hosting roles have positioned her as an all-round entertainer, known for linguistic fluency and a distinctly extroverted on-screen presence.  

That breadth has fed directly into her commercial value. In just the past two years, Yuqi has accumulated a portfolio of brand partnerships spanning luxury fashion, sportswear and beauty. That includes roles with Fendi, Tory Burch and Adidas. And so, a pattern: brands tap into her ability to move between markets, aesthetics and formats without losing recognisability. 

The L’Oréal Paris appointment plays on that theme but brings it to haircare. Rather than introducing a new narrative, the collaboration leans into what Song Yuqi already represents – versatility, visibility, and a kind of high-energy self-assurance that aligns with the brand’s long-running ‘Because I’m worth it’ positioning. 

More broadly, it’s a lesson on how beauty brands are sourcing ambassadors. Technical expertise or your traditional actress-led type credibility is no longer the default. Instead, what you might call cultural elasticity – the ability to operate across music, fashion, content and even boarders – is becoming the valuable option. 

Yuqi fits that brief. But the question with this kind of ambassadorship will always be that multidimensional visibility can be translated into something with long-term payout. Marketing is not just about recognition. Relevance plays a big part too. Especially in an increasingly crowded beauty market. 

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At the centre is a brand film featuring an elderly rock band that unexpectedly goes viral. There’s high contrast at play. While much of social media leans toward polished, premium-type aesthetics, Canva opts for something more disarming. The choice of older protagonists introduces a sense of novelty but also reinforces the campaign’s core message: creative expression is not limited by age, skill, or background. 

The campaign sits under the banner From Inspiration to Viral Hit, extending beyond the film into a broader set of activations. Canva is partnering with Rednote Design Week to launch what they’re calling a Viral Cover Design Challenge, alongside a series of offline workshops branded as Cover Creation Camps. These will take place across major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Hangzhou. 

Online competitions are designed to generate attention and participation at scale, while offline sessions translate that interest into practical engagement. The result is a closed-loop system that moves users from passive viewers to active creators. 

By tying the campaign to Rednote Design Week, Canva gains access to an established creator ecosystem and the promise of platform-backed traffic. For participants, the incentive is tangible: visibility, not just expression.  

Canva has long positioned itself as a tool for everyone. A drag and drop design tool. This campaign evolves that message, shifting from usability to visibility. By tapping Rednote’s creator economy, it reframes design as not just easy, but as a means to be seen, shared, and culturally relevant in a crowded content landscape. They’re basically saying, your story deserves to be told, and here’s a tool simple enough you can get that story out there. 

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The brand breaks down ‘Xujiahui’ (徐家汇), centring on the first two characters ‘Xu family’ (徐家), before expanding outward. Crowdsourced handwritten surnames – Wang, Li, Zhang, alongside compound names like Murong – are layered into a dense visual field that ultimately resolves into the final character 汇 (to gather). It’s a clean piece of work: from one family to many, from many into one place. It’s also a message that taps into MUJI’s long-running homely narrative. 

On Chinese social platforms, the reaction has been split. Rednote discussions show two camps forming quickly. Supporters focus on the logic. They read the work as participatory and locally attuned, a campaign that pulls MUJI closer to Chinese consumers.  

Critics, however, aren’t arguing with the idea. They’re looking at the design. The oversized black 汇 character – thick, dominant, bold – is the flashpoint. Users describe it as visually jarring, out of step with the handwritten textures around it, and at odds with the negative space that typically defines MUJI’s aesthetic. 

It’s a question of execution discipline. MUJI has built its brand on restraint and minimalism. The thing about minimalism is that when the restraint behind it slips – even slightly – it becomes frighteningly visible.  

The poster Muji put up in Xujiahui hasn’t failed. But you could say it has exposed something in Muji’s branding: MUJI’s idea of home is tied very tightly to how it chooses to show it. When it drifts even slightly off course, the customers that have tied themselves just as tightly to that brand image feel it all too acutely.  

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The campaign got to a start with a teaser animation that felt made for fans. There’s wordplay between 狼 (wolf) and 郎 (ro, from Sushiro), queue numbers that look suspiciously misprinted, and a handful of blink-and-you-miss-it in-jokes. It even sneaks in a plug for takeaway.  

Visually, the brand made the right call: it sticks to the original animation style. No redesign, no over-polishing. Just straight nostalgia, delivered clean. Like its earlier Chiikawa collaboration, this one rolls out in phases. From April 6, the menu gets a themed refresh – kids’ sets, oversized sushi platters, and a soft, slightly indulgent osmanthus mousse. Orders come with merch that backs the strategy: PVC pouches, stickers, ice cream spoons, acrylic charms. Small items, high collectability. 

Spend a little more and the collaboration opens up. Bills over RMB 100 unlock limited-edition character cards, with extra add-ons like branded plates, badges, and blind boxes available to purchase. Notably, this round feels more price-friendly. The barrier is just low enough to keep the access easy and impulse high. 

The colab runs offline too. Fourteen stores have been re-skinned into Green Grassland, with themed table mats, ordering screens, and interiors that push the experience beyond the plate. Then there’s the live moment: on April 12, characters dropped into the Guangzhou Yuehui City store for photos, interactions, and instant keepsakes. 

It’s familiar territory for Sushiro by now. Take a well-loved IP, layer it across product, space, and collectables, and let nostalgia do the heavy lifting. But this time they’ve shown a real deft hand in how to tie collaboration into more purchases and collectibility. 

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The model had appeared anonymously on the Artificial Analysis leaderboard, where it quickly took the No.1 spot in blind tests for video generation, sparking speculation over whether it came from a major tech player or an independent lab.  

Developed within Alibaba’s newly formed AI unit under its Token Hub (ATH) division, HappyHorse 1.0 is still in closed beta, with API access expected to roll out in the near future. The model supports both text-to-video and image-to-video generation, and is designed to produce relatively realistic, human-centric footage – a hot battleground in commercial AI content creation.  

What makes the launch notable isn’t just performance, but positioning. HappyHorse 1.0 outperformed or matched leading models from rivals including ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 – software that’s also been making a big splash recently – and Kuaishou’s Kling on benchmark rankings, putting Alibaba right back into a race it had previously lagged in.  

But why drop something so powerful anonymously? By releasing the model without attribution, Alibaba was effectively able to benchmark performance without brand bias. They let the product speak first, and then stepped in to cover themselves in glory. 

This wasn’t a poorly timed move. As mentioned above, video generation is a hot topic now. It’s also emerging as one of the few AI segments with clear routes monetisation. Those routes mostly seem to be coming from across advertising, entertainment and short-form content. And competition in China is fierce. Firms are moving aggressively to grab up a slice of the pie. At the same time, some western players are pull back or refocus efforts, leaving even more of the market up for grabs. 

HappyHorse’s longer-term impact probably won’t depend on the leaderboard rankings that made it such a splash. What matters now is execution. Can they offer pricing, compute efficiency and iteration speed to beat the competition. Its sudden rise does suggest something worth noting though. Alibaba is no longer playing catch-up in AI.  

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Collaboration is nothing new in the F&B world, but this one plays neatly into Saturnbird’s positioning. Rather than pushing function or origin stories, the brand leans into emotional association – using a legacy IP to frame coffee as a small, everyday trigger for imagination. 

The core product is a boxed set containing nine capsules of Saturnbird’s signature specialty instant coffee. Each mini canister features a different Snoopy ‘highlight moment,’ translating the character’s shifting identities into visual packaging cues. Alongside the coffee, the set includes a mug, magnetic fridge accessory and themed cards, extending the experience beyond consumption into collectible territory. 

Limited-edition bundles expand on this base. Three themed variations – ‘Roaming,’ ‘Pet Lover’ and ‘Carefree’ – add practical lifestyle items such as a thermos, pet bowl and storage bags. The additions are not incidental. They position the product within a broader routine, linking coffee drinking to moments of leisure, mobility and companionship. 

In this case, Snoopy’s open-ended imagination offers Saturnbird a flexible narrative frame – one that aligns with the possibilities of a seasonal spring reset, while keeping the product anchored in daily habit. This isn’t a collaboration for novelty’s sake. It’s more about reinforcement and turning a cup of coffee into a repeatable, lightly imaginative ritual. 

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The campaign builds on what the first film started. That earlier instalment, produced in March 2025 with Xinhua News Agency to mark the 20th anniversary of Balabala’s bala T product line, centred on children’s emotional development, highlighting how they process setbacks and turn them into part of growing up. 

In the new film, Balabala documents a range of children’s interests, including insects, traditional instruments such as the pipa, lion dancing, painting, boxing and seal carving. The film presents these pursuits without hierarchy, framing them as self-directed expressions rather than performance-driven activities. 

Alongside these moments, the film also depicts the challenges that accompany children’s interests. Scenes include children feeling misunderstood by peers, resisting pressure to perform, or seeing their work altered or erased. The narrative positions passion as something that involves uncertainty and persistence, rather than a straightforward or purely positive experience. 

A notable change from the first instalment is the inclusion of individual names for each child featured. The campaign also extends beyond the film itself, with Balabala publishing letters written by parents to their children, adding a layer of intergenerational perspective. 

Through the series, Balabala continues to position its bala T line as part of children’s everyday lives, framing the product as a long-term presence rather than a seasonal item. The approach aligns with broader brand moves toward emotional storytelling and sustained narrative building. We’ve seen it recently with 999 Ausnutria and FILA KIDS. It’s hardly a subtle tactic, given the emotional bonds between parents and children, but can you knock an approach that hits home? Probably not.  

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The slowdown is closely tied to policy changes. Subsidies previously drove mass adoption in China’s auto market – particularly in lower-priced EV segments. They’ve now been scaled back or restructured. Earlier fixed incentives have been replaced with price-based rebates, with tighter caps that reduce the effective discount per vehicle. At the same time, NEVs are no longer fully exempt from purchase tax, adding to upfront costs for consumers.  

It’s a big impact, and an uneven one. Budget-friendly models have been hit hardest, while automakers are shifting focus toward higher-margin vehicles and technology upgrades. The change has also reshuffled the competitive landscape. BYD, long the country’s top seller, lost its leading position to SAIC Motor in early 2026 as volumes declined. 

To offset domestic weakness, automakers are increasingly looking overseas. Exports surged more than 48% year-on-year in the same period, with NEVs playing a central role in that expansion. For many manufacturers, international markets are becoming a critical release valve for excess capacity at home. 

In the near term, the market is expected to remain soft. Industry bodies suggest the downturn could persist for several months as consumers adjust to higher prices and reduced incentives. In response, carmakers are turning to promotions, financing schemes and new model launches to stimulate demand. 

After years of subsidy-fuelled growth, China’s auto market is now transitioning toward a more market-driven phase, one where demand, rather than policy support, will determine the pace of expansion. 

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Shot in Yunnan with no fixed script or production flow, the video follows Zhou through a spring day of sunbathing, coffee stops, and unplanned wandering. The aesthetic is intentionally unpolished. Slight camera shake and off-the-cuff moments give the film a lived-in quality, closer to personal documentation than brand content. Product messaging is kept deliberately light. Only in the closing line does Winona’s signature Repair Cream surface, framed as a gentle reminder rather than a hard sell. 

The campaign extends onto social platforms, where Winona maps Zhou’s itinerary across locations such as Dounan Flower Market and Haiyan Village. These posts blend travel guidance with skincare tips, embedding the product into everyday scenarios rather than isolating it as a standalone solution. 

Winona has long played the role of the lab-coat brand in China’s sensitive skincare space – all clinical claims, derm credentials, and problem-solving. Now, it’s loosening up a little, stretching beyond pure efficacy and experimenting with a softer, more mood-led way of speaking to consumers. 

Instead of foregrounding clinical claims or before-and-after comparisons, Cloud Travelogue builds around mood. The idea of taps into a positioning of skincare as part of a wider lifestyle rather than a corrective measure. 

Sensitive skin doesn’t operate in isolation. It moves with stress, weather, and the pace of everyday life. Winona’s latest campaign suggests the brief is shifting. Not toward classic cosmetics, but toward context – positioning its products less as reactive fixes and more as part of the everyday conditions that trigger sensitive skin in the first place. 

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