A consumer selects blind boxes in a store in Beijing. File photo: Li Hao/GT

The Chinese economy displayed stable and upward development momentum in 2025, with newly released macroeconomic data highlighting positive signs across multiple sectors ranging from consumption, investment, trade and logistics, to high-tech industries.

With China set to release GDP data on Monday, some analysts expressed confidence that China's 2025 GDP growth target of about 5 percent was met, and they said that the country is set to maintain sound and resilient development in 2026.

As various policies continue to take effect, several signs of a rebound in infrastructure investment have emerged. Taking the excavator industry, which is a key indicator of infrastructure activity, as an example, Sany Heavy Industry's "Excavator Index," built on the Tree Root Interconnect industrial internet platform, showed that port equipment operating rates rose for six consecutive months starting in July 2025, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

On the sales front, data from the China Construction Machinery Association indicates that 23,095 excavators of various types were sold in December 2025, up 19.2 percent year-on-year, with domestic sales growing by 10.9 percent, the report said.

China's consumer market also continued to grow steadily.

Data from the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, showed that in December, total consumer spending increased by 0.9 percent year-on-year, with goods consumption rising 1.3 percent and services consumption up 0.4 percent. 

In the logistics industry, which serves as a critical window into China's economic vitality, figures from the State Post Bureau showed that in 2025, the postal industry achieved total business revenue of 1.8 trillion yuan ($257 billion), up 6.4 percent year-on-year and handled 216.5 billion parcels, up 11.5 percent.

The express delivery sector's revenue rose 6.5 percent to 1.5 trillion yuan, and it handled 199 billion parcels, up 6.5 percent, according to the data.

Railway passenger traffic also hit a new high last year. According to China State Railway Group, national railways transported 4.255 billion passenger trips in 2025, up 4.2 percent year-on-year. The peak daily passenger volume reached 23.132 million, another record high.

Meanwhile, 2,485 tourist trains were operated nationwide last year, up 33.6 percent year-on-year, providing strong support for the development of the tourism economy, ice-and-snow economy, and silver-hair economy, according to the data.

"Though fourth-quarter GDP growth is likely to have slowed to some extent, main economic indicators in December already point to a rebounding and stabilizing trend. Accordingly, we believe the 2025 annual target of around 5 percent GDP growth was achieved, and the country remains on track for sound and resilient economic development in 2026," Hu Qimu, deputy secretary-general of Forum 50 for Digital-Real Economies Integration, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

China's GDP expanded by 5.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2025, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in October.

Riding this momentum, China's economy has gotten off to a strongly upbeat start in 2026.

In terms of trade, the China Containerized Freight Index, which serves as a barometer for China's foreign trade engine, stood at 1,209.85 points on January 16, up 1.3 percent from January 9, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

Consumption in the high-tech sector continues to boom. Walking across the Huaqiangbei Pedestrian Street in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, which is dubbed China's "Silicon Valley," drones, robots, artificial intelligence interactive toys, and other cutting-edge tech products are neatly displayed along outdoor booths on the street, drawing crowds of shoppers, according to a post on the official WeChat account of the Shenzhen government.
 
Local vendors said that intelligent products featuring interactive capabilities and emotional companionship have become the hottest items in terms of inquiries and transactions ahead of the Spring Festival holidays, the post noted.

Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin School of Administration, told the Global Times on Sunday that in 2026, China's economic growth will exhibit a quarter-by-quarter rebound. He stressed that the steady upward momentum of the Chinese economy "is injecting much-needed stability and confidence into the world economy," in face of rising trade protectionism and geopolitical conflicts. 

Multiple global organizations and multinational companies have in recent months upgraded their economic estimates and forecasts for China's GDP growth in 2025 and 2026. 

For instance, the IMF in December raised its forecast for China's 2025 and 2026 economic growth to 5 percent and 4.5 percent, up 0.2 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points from its October estimates, which the organization said reflected "both strong exports and welcome fiscal stimulus." The IMF also noted that China contributes about 30 percent to global growth.