Start trading in the Chinese markets

Ranging from consumers, wholesalers, agents, and factories, from raw materials to the products in the hands of the consumer. Access to China, a UK based company, has been operating in the Chinese markets for over 20 years with over 100 years of experience among our staff.

Over the last ten years, China has moved most of its trading online. Given the size of the country and cities and 1.4 billion people, the Internet has allowed the country to grow its internal markets. This has allowed consumer prices to be driven down and quality to be greatly increased. Given these and many other benefits, the adoption of Internet technology has been fast in China.

This adoption of new technology does not stop with the internet; green technology adoption is growing very fast. Green tech is seen in China as cheaper, fastest and functionality richer. The Chinese government are driving the development due to the high pollution level in China.

Green technology our focus for 2024. Today, China is the world's largest producer and user of Green technology.

Access to the world's largest market

Overseas social media is not available in China. Having your website seen and found is critical to successful business relationship building in China.

Many regions and countries worldwide speak Mandarin, i.e., Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, California, Hong Kong, Vietnam and many more. Adding Mandarin language to your SEO data can open your website to trading worldwide beyond China. The Chinese market goes way beyond the 1.4 billion people living in China.

Given the importance of being seen on the internet in China and Chinese markets worldwide, Access to China focus of our business is getting your business, products and services seen online in China.

Chinese green technology

Green Technology is key to most businesses’ growth in the next five years. Chinese Green Technology has been developing rapidly, given consumers and government demands to reduce China's high pollution levels.

Green technology is key to most businesses’ growth in the next five years.

The development of Green Technology is starting to give greater efficiencies, reduce costs, and increase productivity, i.e., electric vehicles; greatly reduced operating costs, greatly improved performance, and improved safety.

We believe Green Technology should give you more, not less.

Sourcing products and services from China

For the last 40 years, China has built up its manufacturing base to be one of the most successful in the world.

In recent years, the growth of the Chinese domestic consumer market has increased imports from overseas of high-quality products. In turn, this has driven up the quality of locally produced products. Today, China is moving towards better quality products.

Lower-quality products are moving to other Asian countries.

The global issues, starting with the virus in early 2020 and continuing today with conflicts around the world, resulted in a rethinking of supply chains. The repatriation of manufacturing back to your country using China's production know-how is an option for consideration.

Chinese trading information and recommendation

Access to China information and recommendations for your consideration to support your Chinese trading ambitions. In our trading in China for over 20+ years, running and operating Chinese businesses, we have gathered lots of information and recommendations.

Short video presentations (coming February 2024)
Internet in China information
Papers and reports
Useful links

We are happy to share this information and are always interested in adding to the pool of information. Any ideas, requests or information, very well.

Emailing

Messaging in China

Messaging between staff, friends, and family is as important in China as it is anywhere else in the world.

Given that most international messaging systems are part of social media platforms and are not available in China.

Mobile local and overseas telephone companies and national and international text messaging are available.

China, over the years, has developed national messaging systems;

QQ - text-based system – Tencent – 1999 – 574 million (2023)

Instant messaging with text, voice, video calls, group chats, and file sharing. QQ remains popular among younger users and gamers and supports QQ Wallet payments.

Momo – Messaging app and social networking – Momo Inc – 2010

A location-based social networking and messaging app mainly used for meeting new people and social interaction. It supports text and voice messaging, as well as live streaming.

MiChat – Massaging platform like WeChat – Xiaomi – 2010 to 2021

Initially, it started as a messaging platform similar to WeChat. It allows for messaging, voice calls, and video calls, but Xiaomi later discontinued the service in China to focus on other markets.

WeChat – Messaging App (text) – Tencent – 2011 – 1.26 billion users (2023)

Messaging (text, voice, video), voice calls, group chats, and social features like "Moments." It also supports payments via WeChat Pay and mini-programs for businesses.

YiChat - Messaging service – China Telecom and NetEase – 2013

A messaging service offering free SMS (to non-YiChat users), voice, and video calls, it was launched as a competitor to WeChat but never gained the same popularity.

DingTalk – Messaging (text/voice/video/files) – Alibaba – 2014 – 500 million users (2023)

It is primarily an enterprise communication tool that offers text and voice messaging, video calls, task management, and file sharing for business use.

DouYin – Messaging, social media, e-commerce platform – ByteDance – 2016 – 730 Chinese users. (2023)

Today, it's mainly known as a short-form video platform similar to TikTok (the international version of Douyin). It's widely used for sharing user-generated videos, challenges, and memes. Used as a messaging platform, mainly by your people

TikTok systems run on different platforms to DouYin and are not linked.

Feishu / Lark – Enterprise messaging platform – ByteDance – 2019 – 10 million users (2023)

An enterprise messaging platform similar to Slack or Microsoft Teams offers messaging, file sharing, video calls, and collaboration tools focusing on work communication.

There is an exception for overseas messaging services not blocked in China;

Skype – Microsoft - 2003

Used for international communication, offering text, voice, and video calls. Skype is used in China but faces restrictions and competition from local services like WeChat and QQ.

Overseas messaging services are available in China by using a VPN. The Chinese regulations do not allow the use of VPNs. Most VPNs in China are blocked.

In addition to the above messaging services, all social media platforms have some message service. The primary social media not covered above;

Weibo – social media – Sina Corporation (30% owned by Alibaba) - 2009 – 584 million users (2023)

While primarily a social media platform, Weibo has integrated messaging features that allow users to communicate privately. It’s famous for sharing updates, news, and trends and has a significant influence on public discourse in China.

Xiaohongshu (Red Book) - Xingin Information Technology – 2013

A social commerce platform where users share reviews of products and lifestyle tips, particularly popular for fashion, beauty, and travel.

Overseas messaging to and from China recommendation

Open a WeChat account. This can be done in most overseas countries. More than 95+% of Chinese businesses and consumers have a WeChat account. There is a translation option available.
A Red Book account may be required if your customer/supplier uses this platform for business messaging. Note: - As stated above, Red Book users will also have a WeChat account.
Standard text messaging is available but is not used much in China. If you use text messaging and do not get a reply, there may be a problem in China. Backup texting at the outset to ensure there are no communication problems.
Please remember to respect Chinese rules and regulations on messaging content.

Last modified:V2.1 - October 2024