A file photo of a customer buying a time-honored brand product at a night market in Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo/WeChat account: xiamen_swj]

To date, Xiamen in Fujian province is home to 12 of China's time-honored brands, 20 of Fujian's time-honored brands, and 112 of Xiamen's time-honored brands through five years of protection and cultivation.

On May 1, 2017, Xiamen became the first city in China to legislate for the protection and development of time-honored brands.

Over the past five years, time-honored brands in Xiamen have experienced vigorous development and increasing influence thanks to the efforts made by the Xiamen municipal bureau of commerce for promoting the innovative development of time-honored brands.

Xiamen has worked to optimize the business environment for time-honored brands. For example, by the end of 2020, the municipal bureau of commerce released a development plan for 2021-25 that includes six projects such as excavation and rescue, inheritance and protection, transformation and upgrading, innovation and development, exchange and cooperation, and talent cultivation to help Xiamen's time-honored brands companies thrive.

The municipal bureau of commerce has organized a total of 75 time-honored brand companies to participate in 35 domestic professional and comprehensive exhibitions since 2017, and continues to help time-honored brands get involved in the development of the nighttime economy.

Xiamen established a research institute for time-honored brands in 2021 to advise businesses on how to boost the value of time-honored brands through innovative management and operations.