The first downtown duty-free shop in central China's Hubei Province began trial operations in its capital city of Wuhan on Friday, marking also the first such store to open in central China, according to the provincial department of commerce.
In August last year, five government departments including the Ministry of Finance jointly made a statement that a downtown duty-free shop would be opened in each of the eight cities, namely Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xi'an, Changsha and Fuzhou.
Previously, China had already established six downtown duty-free shops in cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian, Xiamen, and Sanya.
The downtown duty-free shop in Wuhan marks the first newly opened downtown duty-free store in China since the new policy was implemented, the authorities said.
It is located in a luxury shopping mall within Wuhan's core commercial districts, which received over 32 million visitors last year and achieved annual sales exceeding 10 billion yuan (about 1.39 billion U.S. dollars).
The duty-free shop's investor and operator, a joint venture company, has secured cross-border direct procurement agreements with over 100 international brands. These partnerships span multiple categories including fragrance and cosmetics, wines and foods, digital electronics, luxury accessories, domestic cultural-creative products, as well as coffee and tea products.
The shop also showcases culturally distinctive intangible heritage products, as part of its strategy to promote "fashionable goods" of domestic brands in the global market.
A downtown duty-free shop refers to a store established in a specific area within a city that sells duty-free goods to international tourists who are about to embark on an outbound trip.
"These duty-free shops have specific qualification requirements for buyers. Only those holding a passport and an outbound air ticket within 60 days (inclusive) are eligible to purchase, regardless of nationality," said Wu Yan, general manager of Wuhan Wangfujing Wushang Duty-Free Products Management company, investor and operator of the duty-free shop.
Wuhan's first downtown duty-free shop begins trial operations
Foreign diplomats and scholars are looking closely at this year's "two sessions", saying China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) will not only chart the nation's economic and technological priorities but also reshape global value chains.
The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top political advisory body, opened on Wednesday, followed by the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday. Together known as the "two sessions," these meetings offer a comprehensive view into China's development priorities.
Global observers emphasized that the 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint guiding the nation's economic, social, and technological priorities over the next five years, marks a decisive shift toward high‑quality growth anchored in advanced technologies, with ripple effects across the world.
"The two sessions will discuss China's five-year plan, which is heavily oriented toward China's major technological development. I believe this is important because it represents the new blueprint for China's economy, which is now oriented toward the renowned high-quality development, and this will undoubtedly impact the entire world. I think it is worth studying. This is very important for Latin America. It will help us integrate more intelligently into global value chains and into all aspects of the major development that China is promoting in iconic industrial sectors, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space development, where Latin America also has much to contribute beyond just commercial growth," said Gustavo Sabino Vaca Narvaja, former Argentine Ambassador to China.
"The two sessions are a major political milestone in China, and this year's gathering carries even greater significance as this year marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. This plan represents not only a blueprint for China, but also a guide for other countries. Instruments like the five-year plan effectively provide greater certainty and predictability for the rest of the world," said Chilean scholar of international relations Ignacio Araya Heredia.
"This is a particularly important date, especially due to the fact that the next Five-Year Plan shall be positioned and we're going to see what its main elements shall be. Serbia, which has a very high degree of steel friendship with the People's Republic of China, can expect further assistance in identifying the most prominent areas of Serbian economy and being helped by its great partner, such as it has been done in the previous period, from one part with establishing the main infrastructure projects, but also reshaping the industrial sector of Serbia, not just Serbia, but the region as a whole," said Veljko Mijuskovic, assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade.
Beyond the policy framework, experts also pointed to China's achievements in green energy and technological innovation as models worth emulating.
Tomasz Bielinski, adjunct professor at the University of Gdansk's Faculty of Economics, said the robotics displays at the 2026 China Media Group (CMG) Spring Festival Gala reflected China's broader push in technological innovation.
"I was really impressed about the robotics. I'm very impressed with Chinese development in the technological field, we can still make great deals with Chinese businessmen and we can cooperate together to use this technology for both the good of China and the European Union. I'm aware of the innovation especially in autonomous drive on the on the Chinese side," he said.
"We hope for more of China's economic cooperation, especially in trade and also in investment. Also, and the other focus, if I talk about the focus of the development, don't forget about the green energy. We know that China is great in the electric vehicle field. So because China's electric vehicles in Indonesia nowadays, since couple of years ago, are very, very popular," said Al Busyra Basnur, president of the Indonesia-China Friendship Association.
Observers see China's new five-year plan driving high-quality development, global tech shifts
