Alongside the telecoms giant, leading financial institutions continue to head up the rankings – with ICBC and China Construction Bank in positions two and three respectively and technology brands Baidu, moving up two positions to number four, and Tencent, moved up from position ten to number five.

WPP says that an analysis of the BrandZ Chinese study as a “stock portfolio” over the past two years shows that it consistently outperforms the MSCI China stock market index. While the total return on investment for all companies in the MSCI China Index was -5.6% in September 2012, the combined BrandZ top 50 brands Portfolio provided a 5.8% ROI.

David Roth, CEO of WPP division The Store, said: “As the growth rate of the Chinese economy slows, brands become a more important discriminator of consumer choice. As this study shows, strong brands help Chinese companies grow faster. This is set to accelerate as the Chinese economy rebalances. This, combined with the requirement for more Chinese companies to be successful overseas, will drive the necessity for creating strong Chinese brands as a critical factor for success.”

Adrian Gonzalez, head of Greater China, Millward Brown, added: “Building strong brands domestically is a vital template for the increasing number of Chinese brand owners exploring international markets. This year’s BrandZ Top 50 gives an insight into how an expanding group of privately-owned Chinese brands are growing value by meaningfully differentiating their brands.”