XING WEI/FOR CHINA DAILY
As China's traditional industries evolve, a growing number of younger-generation entrepreneurs are bringing digital tools and unconventional ideas into long-established family businesses.
According to the China Private Economy Research Association, family businesses account for more than 80 percent of the country's private enterprises, and between 2017 and 2022, roughly three-fourths of these faced the challenge of leadership succession.
"In this era of new retail, the new generation of successors of family businesses often surpass their parents in terms of catching online traffic. Through platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, they build personal brands and reach consumers directly, selling not just products but also experiences and lifestyles. This sets them apart from previous generations of successors," said Zhu Jian'an, a professor at Hangzhou City University and associate dean of the Institute for Entrepreneurs at the School of Management, Zhejiang University.
For Qiu Yixuan, 26, a native of Wuyishan, Fujian province, one of China's best-known tea-producing regions, returning to her family's tea factory after studying law in Xiamen was not simply about inheriting the business, but about finding a way to reconnect younger consumers with Chinese tea culture.
