China's 2026 box office revenue had surpassed 14 billion yuan (about 2.06 billion U.S. dollars) as of Tuesday, fueled by a diverse array of hit movies and consumption promotion campaigns.
The film industry got off to a strong start during the Spring Festival holiday. "Pegasus 3," the latest installment in director Han Han's racing comedy franchise, amassed over 4 billion yuan and remains the year's top grossing film so far.
Released during the Qingming Festival, the comedy drama "It's OK" focused on a mother-daughter bond and resonated strongly with young women, topping April's box office chart with more than 160 million yuan in ticket sales.
During the just concluded May Day holiday, "Dear You," a low budget film in the Chaoshan (Teochew) dialect featuring an almost entirely first-time cast, became one of China's biggest cinematic surprises of 2026. As the highest rated domestic release so far this year, the tear-jerking drama had raked in over 180 million yuan as of Wednesday afternoon.
The five-day May Day holiday, a key period for movie-going, drew more than 20.8 million people to cinemas, a 10 percent jump from a year ago, while the number of screenings rose 2 percent to nearly 2.4 million.
Bolstered by the "2026 China Film Consumption Year" and "China Travel with Chinese Films" initiatives, cinema spending has become a major driver of cultural and tourism consumption. The entire film industry chain has generated over 220 billion yuan in output value since January.
China's 2026 box office surpasses 14 bln yuan
China recorded around 5.1 million newly registered business entities in the first quarter of the year, with strong momentum in high-tech manufacturing, data from the State Administration for Market Regulation showed on Wednesday.
The number includes 2.074 million enterprises and 3.014 million individually owned businesses. Broken down by sector, the tertiary sector led with 4.473 million new registrations, followed by 396,000 in the secondary sector and 229,000 in the primary sector.
By the end of March, China has established 26.848 million registered enterprises in the "four new economies" -- new technologies, industries, business forms, and models -- up 6.8 percent from a year earlier and made up 40.9 percent of all enterprises, reflecting a steadily optimizing industrial structure.
High-tech manufacturing recorded accelerated gains. New business registrations in integrated circuit manufacturing soared 31 percent year on year, while intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing grew by 15.7 percent. The equipment manufacturing sector added 70,000 new entities, with railway, ship, aviation and aerospace and other transport equipment manufacturing climbing 10.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises also saw continued growth, with 16,000 newly founded in the first quarter, up 10 percent year on year. Investment was concentrated in scientific research and technical services sectors, as well as cultural, sports and entertainment industries, where new registrations jumped 16.9 percent and 15 percent, respectively, underscoring the appeal of the Chinese market.
China records 5.1 mln newly registered business entities in Q1
China records 5.1 mln newly registered business entities in Q1
