A striking shift is underway on the shopping floors of Shanghai: foreign tourists are increasingly skipping the tea shops and silk stalls in favor of seeking out bags, footwear, clothing, and accessories from Chinese designers.
According to a Xinhua report from July 23, Chinese designer products have emerged as a new driver of inbound consumption, with visitors from the United States, France, Russia, and Germany spotted getting custom suits measured and hunting down social media–recommended Chinese brands at boutiques across the city.
The surge comes as foreign visitor arrivals in Shanghai jumped 22 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2026, buoyed by China’s expanding visa exemption policies. Nationally, China recorded nearly 22.91 million inbound trips by foreign nationals in the first half of the year—a 20.4 percent year-on-year increase—signaling that Chinese designers are gaining real global cachet, not just industry recognition.