The latest Fortune Global 500 rankings were released on August 10th. The most notable change in the 2020 ranking is undoubtedly the historic leap made by Chinese companies. This year, the number of companies listed in mainland China and Hong Kong reached 124, surpassing the United States for the first time in history (121). Including companies from Taiwan, there are a total of 133 companies in China on the list.

Screenshot of a report on the website of Fortune magazine

The article states that in the 30 years since the release of the Fortune Global 500, two very clear themes have emerged. The cover of this issue reflects this trend - China's rise as a global business leader. In 1990, when we started the survey of the world's top 500 enterprises, the number of global top 500 enterprises in Chinese Mainland was 0. Nowadays, there are more large profitable enterprises in China than anywhere else in the world.

The cover of this issue of Fortune magazine shows the growth trend of China's Fortune Global 500 companies

The second point that is equally noteworthy is the overall sharp growth of global trade, which is just as unstoppable as China's rise. According to data from the World Bank, when the Fortune Global 500 list was first released, world trade accounted for less than 39% of global GDP. By 2018, global trade accounted for over 59% of the world's economic output.

The article emphasizes that global trade is precisely the reason why the United States has become a superpower. In 2019, American companies exported goods and services worth $2.5 trillion, compared to only $487 billion 30 years ago. Even after excluding inflation, the growth rate reached 152%. Therefore, the significance of global economic change trends cannot be overemphasized.

The article on the Fortune website also points out that the continuous strength and scale of Chinese enterprises cannot be separated from China's continuous deepening of reform and expansion of opening up.

In 1995, when Fortune magazine first released the "Fortune Global 500" rankings, the World Trade Organization had just been established. China has begun to deepen reform and expand opening up. By 1997, only four enterprises in Chinese Mainland had entered the list. In the year of China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, there were 12 Chinese companies on the list, which has been rapidly increasing year by year since then.

The article states that since 2008, the number of Chinese companies in the rankings has accelerated. Firstly, it surpassed Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, and later surpassed Japan.

In this year's ranking, China ranks first in terms of the number of companies on the list. Since the Fortune Global 500 list was released in 1995, no country or region has seen such a rapid increase in the number of companies on the list.