66 Chinese enterprises have been ranked in the world’s top 500 most valuable brands, up by 11 from 2017, said a report issued by Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent branded business valuation and strategy consultancy.

According to the report, Global 500 2018, 22 of the 66 Chinese brands are placed in the top 100.

The number of China’s trademark registration applications has grown 83% year on year, up to 1.5 million during the first quarter of 2018 which hits a historic high, said the country’s State Administration of Market Regulation.

China ranks first in the world when it comes to number of trademark registrations. The country had 16 million registered trademarks by the end of this March, holding an average of 1,596.3 trademarks per 10,000 market entities.

In addition, China has also witnessed enhanced awareness of innovation and patent application. A total of 391,000 applications for invention patents were handled in China over the first three months of 2018, up 36.4% from the same period in 2017.

The number of patents held per 10,000 people in China stood at 10.2 at the end of March, signalling the first time that this figure has hit double digits.