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The era for China’s next wave of entrepreneurs has arrived, with a new generation taking the spotlight. They are tasked with inheriting family businesses while also venturing into international markets.
At the 2026 Next-Generation Leaders Go Global Conference held in Kunming, in southern Yunnan province, heirs of the country’s most prominent business moguls gathered on March 14 and 15 to discuss succession challenges and strategies for global expansion.
Growing trade tensions, restructuring of international supply chains, and fierce competition within a saturated domestic market are prompting many manufacturing firms to look toward Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other overseas regions.
The first generation of business owners often lacks familiarity with foreign markets due to limited international exposure, according to Jiang Feng, head of the Family Business Succession Research Center at Hejun Consulting. In contrast, their successors tend to have studied abroad extensively, giving them a natural advantage—eight or nine out of ten second-generation entrepreneurs she has worked with have overseas education backgrounds.
Expanding abroad involves refining an entrepreneurial mindset, said Liu Jia, founder of ChuhaiGO Global, a company assisting businesses with international growth. “A true entrepreneur possesses emotional sensitivity and the ability to control those emotions fully.”
However, international expansion can be fraught with challenges. For example, when South Korean and Japanese companies applied their local management styles in Southeast Asia, they faced massive labor strikes, explained Jiang Zhiying, director of the Digital Marketing Master’s program at Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Southeast Asia’s 11 countries are highly diverse—with distinct ethnic groups, religions, and legal systems. “Treating Southeast Asia as a single entity is a major mistake in doing business there,” Jiang noted.
For second-generation heirs who have already navigated family conflicts and are accustomed to local business practices, entering international markets requires rethinking everything—rebuilding assumptions rather than copying their parents’ strategies.
Li Daiwei, sales manager at Yunnan Zoey Import and Export Trading and daughter of the company’s founder, returned after three years working in finance in Shanghai to take over her family’s auto parts business. Originally rooted in Yunnan, where mountain terrains increase the demand for auto spare parts, Li expanded into exports to Laos and Thailand, using border crossings to facilitate direct shipments to neighboring countries.
Li explained that Vietnamese buyers prefer TikTok for communication over WeChat or WhatsApp, and many Yunnan exporters now leverage TikTok to connect with potential customers directly.
Sherry Huang, a third-generation heir to a machinery manufacturing firm in Guangdong, studied luxury goods management at HEC Paris before returning to China in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic to learn more about her family’s business.
After two years, she vented her frustrations on social media, discovering many others shared similar struggles. This led to the formation of ‘Factory Heirs GOGOGO,’ a community group now with around 6,000 verified successors from the manufacturing sector.
Most members are young—averaging 26 years old—with a significant 68% having studied abroad. Originally a space for mutual support, the group now serves as a hub for sharing experiences on overseas expansion, customer relations, and factory management.
Huang aims to use this platform to connect her family’s business with young talent in manufacturing, creating a network through peer-to-peer exchanges.
Xuan Yan, son of the founder of Songming Blue Dragonfly Flowers, now manages a dried and preserved flowers company. He initially attempted livestream sales three times after taking over but faced failures. “It’s a real shame,” he admitted, citing lack of a professional team and sometimes relying on luck.
Now, the company offers B2B services, customizing products for livestream studios and shipping seasonal gifts, maintaining a modest profile while establishing a stable market presence. One of Xuan’s goals is to expand processed Yunnan flowers into more international markets.
When considering overseas expansion, second-generation entrepreneurs face a choice: continue building on their family legacy or pursue a new growth path.
Expanding globally isn’t just about “stepping out”—it’s about “getting it right,” embedding the brand, story, and core values into the minds of international consumers, explained Gao Yang, director of the International Communication Research Center at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, during the release of its Brand Digital Intelligence White Paper.
China’s initial phase of supply chain globalization has fulfilled a significant part of its mission. The next hurdle is overcoming perception. “Without a strong brand, you’re just a supplier, easily replaceable,” Gao warned.
Others see the main strengths of Chinese companies abroad differently. Gan Zhaoquan, CEO of Liangji Artificial Intelligence, emphasizes that China’s competitive advantages lie in cost-effectiveness and supply chain efficiencies. “It’s not about prestige; it’s about slashing prices from a million to a hundred thousand, building super-efficient supply chains through relentless effort,” Gan said.
Ultimately, whether the newer generation can take the helm hinges on understanding that their parents’ legacies are starting points—not endpoints—for further growth.
Jiang Feng believes that succession in China remains complex, marked by a dynamic interplay between entrepreneurship and inheritance. “The business environment and external markets are always changing,” she said. “The first generation often feels uncertain, while the second is just stepping in, so collaboration between both is essential for success.”
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