A woman poses with a Chinese-branded bicycle at the Shanghai Exhibition Center during the China Brand Day event on Friday. Photo: IC

China held a series of events to promote domestic brands on Friday in celebration of the 2019 China Brand Day.Analysts believe developing domestic brands is significant for China's future industrial upgrading and could ease the reliance on foreign products amid Sino-US trade disputes.A Chinese brands strategic alliance, covering 1,200 initial members including government organs, enterprises, universities, industry associations and research institutes, was established in Beijing on Friday. The alliance was proposed by China Central Television to give full play to the role of domestic brands in the high-quality development of enterprises.Li Zhaoqian, vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said that Chinese brands have to research and develop key technologies and new products based on consumption trends.On Friday, the 2019 China Brand Day event was held in Shanghai, highlighting high-quality economic development, expanding domestic consumption and promoting domestic brands to the international market.Hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission and several other ministries, the three-day event will be attended by more than 200 independent brands in sectors of textiles, automobiles, food and information technology, according to its website.China's State Council approved China Brands Day for May 10 each year starting 2017.People's Daily and Chinese video-sharing app TikTok (known as Douyin in China) also launched a "Chinese brands glowing project," featuring celebrities endorsing Chinese brands on TikTok.Some TikTok users shared their stories and experiences using Chinese brands, and invited others to promote Chinese brands. As of press time, the short videos with the hashtag "Chinese brands glowing" have been played 570 million times on TikTok.On China's Twitter-like Weibo, the hashtag "China Brand Day" has been viewed more than 83 million times, with many netizens saying, "be strong, China," and "support Chinese products."Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times that developing Chinese brands is an important direction for future industrial upgrading, as China has gradually lost its advantage in low-end manufacturing."China needs to be firmer in developing its domestic brands amid trade frictions with the US, as the US is playing its trade card because of fear of the growing influence of Chinese technology and Chinese brands," Cong said.Alibaba unveiled a "New Chinese Product" plan on Wednesday to create 200 homegrown brands whose annual sales could exceed 1 billion yuan ($147 million) and help another 200 well-known Chinese brands achieve annual sales of more than 100 million yuan in the next few years.Although more Chinese enterprises have entered the international market, they still lag behind in the speed of brand development. And the number of internationally known Chinese brands remains small."Chinese companies have to upgrade the importance of brand building to the level of its development strategy," Cong said.