China's major SMEs register positive annual growth in 2025

China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continued to post steady and positive growth in 2025, with value-added output of industrial SMEs above the designated size rising 6.9 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The update was released at a State Council Information Office press conference on industrial and information technology development held on Wednesday, where Zhang Yunming, the ministry's vice minister, outlined the high-quality development progresses of SMEs in 2025.

"In 2025, the value-added output of industrial SMEs above the designated size rose by 6.9 percent year on year, while the SME export index reached 52.4 percent in December, continued the steady expansion for 21 consecutive months," he said.

Over the past year, China has cumulatively nurtured 17,600 specialized and innovative “little giant” enterprises, more than 140,000 specialized and innovative SMEs, and more than 600,000 technology- and innovation-oriented SMEs. These “little giant” enterprises have an average research and development investment intensity of 7 percent, with a total of 460,000 invention patents, averaging 26.6 per enterprise, highlighting strong innovation capacity.

"Authorities will formulate a dedicated plan to promote SME development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. We will fully implement regulations aimed at ensuring timely payments to SMEs, intensify efforts to clear overdue payments while resolutely curbing new arrears, and better protect the legitimate rights and interests of SMEs. Revisions to SME classification standards will also be accelerated to improve the precision and effectiveness of policy support," Zhang said.

Further measures will focus on building mechanisms to support the growth of specialized and innovative SMEs to produce novel and unique products, establishing the first group of national SME public service demonstration platforms and bases, and rolling out a three-year action plan for tiered cultivation of high-quality enterprises. China will also explore the creation of specialized and innovative empowerment centers for SMEs, improve the tiered development system for SME-focused industrial clusters, and promote coordinated and integrated development among large, medium and small enterprises, he added.

China's major SMEs register positive annual growth in 2025

China's railway sector has taken measures to cope with the impact of freezing weather in the season and guarantee transport safety.

A cold wave has swept across many parts of central China's Henan Province, bringing snow and lowering temperatures, severely challenging the railway transportation.

In the provincial capital Zhengzhou, high-speed trains kept coming to a maintenance depot for de-icing. The extremely high speed and complex bogie structures make the high-speed trains prone to absorb ice and snow they stir up in running, likely to compromise the operation safety.

"We have organized workers to use specially designed rubber shovels to clear snow and de-ice in-between the bogies. Meanwhile, for residual ice that is hard to remove, we carry out deeper cleaning with ice-clearing vehicles and high-pressure water jets," said Jin Yun, an official with Zhengzhou railway bureau of the National Railway Administration.

Wuhuan railway bureau in neighboring Hubei Province of central China also took measures to ensure the safety of railway transportation in snowy weather. They have leveraged advantages of network hub to integrate automated system, rationalize operation schedule to ensure the transport of key supplies, and add anti-slip mats and warning signs at railway stations to protect passengers.

Qingdao section of Jinan railway bureau in east China's Shandong Province has also stepped up patrols and inspections of key railway equipment and carried out de-icing in freezing rainy days.

Railway sector copes with cold front for safe winter travel