China registered the establishment of more than 25.745 million new market entities in 2025, with the number of businesses in operation increasing by 9.8 percent compared to the previous year, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said on Thursday.

This growth indicates a gradual recovery of China's economy and a strengthening of its microeconomic foundation.

In 2025, the administration stepped up efforts to curb rat race competition, investigating and handling 14,600 unfair competition cases such as aggressive price competition and subsidy competition. Additionally, authorities promptly corrected abuses related to "refund-only" policies and "mandatory Return Insurance". These measures strongly protected the legitimate rights and interests of small and medium-sized businesses and consumers, further improving the market competition environment, according to administration officials at a press conference in Beijing.

Targeting key challenges and bottlenecks in the industrial chain involving technological iteration and quality upgrade, market regulation authorities rolled out standards and implemented technical certifications in key areas such as new energy vehicles and automotive chips in the year, facilitating breakthroughs in the development of crucial technologies and promoting industrial upgrades.

"In 2025, we helped companies solve 21 key technology bottlenecks in the industrial chain and fill 71 quality and technical gaps urgently needed by industries. We published 4,929 sets of national standards, a year-on-year increase of 56 percent, which effectively improved the resilience and safety of our industrial and supply chains," said Deng Zhiyong, deputy head of the administration, said the press conference.