Despite China’s slower economic growth and trade tensions with the US, the total value of the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands rose 30 percent to $889.7 billion this year, the highest annual increase since the ranking launched in 2011, according to a recent report released in Beijing on Monday.

The annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands ranking, jointly prepared by advertising holding company WPP and its research firm Kantar Millward Brown, shows the growth was fuelled by brands accelerating their expansion into China’s lower tier cities, which have seen rapid development and rising consumer buying power, and increasingly positive attitudes to Chinese consumer brands with a global presence.

Alibaba has been crowned the most valuable brand in China for the first time in the annual ranking, having grown its brand value by 59 percent year-on-year to $141 billion.