The Chinese economy has shown a stable and upward development momentum last year, with various freshly-released macroeconomic data highlighting positive signs across multiple sectors ranging from consumption, investment, trade and logistics, to high-tech industries.

A consumer selects blind boxes in a store in Beijing. File photo: Li Hao/GT

As the country is set to release GDP data on Monday, some analysts said that they are confident that China’s 2025 GDP growth target of around 5 percent will be met, and that the country is set to maintain stable and resilient growth in the year of 2026.

As various policies continue to take effect, several signs of a rebound in infrastructure investment have emerged. Taking excavators – a key indicator for infrastructure activity — as an example, Sany Heavy Industry’s “Excavator Index,” built on the Tree Root Interconnect industrial internet platform, shows that port equipment operating rates have risen for six consecutive months since July 2025, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

On the sales front, data from the China Construction Machinery Association indicate that 23,095 excavators of various types were sold in December 2025, up 19.2 percent year-on-year, with domestic sales growing by 10.9 percent, the report said.

China’s consumer market also continued to grow steadily. Data from the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, showed that in December, the total consumer spending increased by 0.9 percent year-on-year, with goods consumption rising 1.3 percent and services consumption up 0.4 percent.

In terms of the logistics industry, which serves as a critical window to gauge China’s economic vitality, data from the State Post Bureau showed that in 2025, the postal industry achieved a total business revenue of 1.8 trillion yuan and handled 216.5 billion parcels, representing year-on-year growth of 6.4 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively. Of which, the express delivery sector recorded revenue of 1.5 trillion yuan and business volume of 199 billion parcels, up 6.5 percent and 13.7 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Railway passenger traffic also hit a new historical high last year. According to data released by China State Railway Group, national railways transported 4.255 billion passengers in 2025, up 4.2 percent year-on-year. The peak daily passenger volume reached 23.132 million, setting yet another record high.

Meanwhile, a total of 2,485 tourist trains were operated nationwide last year, an increase of 33.6 percent year-on-year, providing strong support for the development of the tourism economy, ice-and-snow economy, and silver-hair economy, according to the data.

China's GDP expanded by 5.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics in October.

Despite challenges, China is on course to meet its full-year growth target of around 5 percent in 2025, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies under the University of International Business and Economics, said in a previous interview.