On 15 June 2026, some of the most influential voices in British luxury, China market expertise, and Asia-Pacific market strategy gathered at The Peninsula London for the Walpole APAC Luxury Summit – a half-day forum exploring how British luxury brands can navigate and grow across one of the world’s most dynamic consumer regions.

As part of TONG Global’s ongoing partnership with Walpole, the official sector body for British luxury, the summit brought together brand leaders, media figures, and market specialists, alongside partners including Invest Hong Kong, for a series of candid, practical conversations spanning China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the broader APAC landscape.

The speakers’ line-up brought together some of the biggest names in APAC luxury and China consumer strategy. 

The joint keynote from TONG’s Commercial Director, Jack Porteous, and Managing Partner, Xuan Wang, centred on the idea that China has now expanded beyond just a luxury market and into a strong cultural force in the global luxury landscape.

Chinese brands are truly competitive across the spectrum of luxury sectors, and Chinese consumers are among the most discerning. So, brands must do more than just be present in the region to establish the right reputation and deliver on long-term brand goals. 

This theme carried on throughout the day, with Angelica Cheung, founding editor of Vogue China and founder of AMH Consulting, warning global brands to enter Asia and treat customers, partners, and competitors as equals. 

On the same panel, Chloé Reuter, founder of Reuter Ventures, spoke about how to operate a brand globally, with flexibility and presence across a variety of platforms and countries. 

TONG’s invited KOL and Chinese Influencer Yameng Gao urged brands to be ‘more human’ to bring audiences closer, and to find the balance between what they want to communicate and what audiences in China want to see.

TONG Global’s Commercial Director, Jack Porteous, and Managing Partner, Xuan Wang, led some of the day’s central sessions. Drawing on their combined decades of experience helping Western luxury and lifestyle brands enter and grow in the Chinese market, they offered a grounded, practical perspective on what genuine market entry and sustainable growth really require, from the cultural fluency needed to earn consumer trust, to the commercial infrastructure needed to sustain it.

Their core message was consistent with what TONG sees in its everyday work with clients: that China rewards brands that take the time to understand it. A localised presence built on authentic storytelling, the right platform strategy, and deep knowledge of the Chinese consumer is far more valuable, and far more durable, than surface-level market activation.

Xuan Wang also sat down with Yameng Gao, one of the UK’s most influential Chinese social media creators, for a conversation on maximising brand impact through platforms such as Xiaohongshu (RedNote) and WeChat. With over 240,000 followers and 3 million likes, Gao is one of the leading UK-based voices on the platform, and her insights were among the most practical of the day.

She spoke about the importance of authentic content over polished advertising, the value of balancing brand content with genuine creative trust for creators, and the needed equilibrium between communicating what audiences want to see and what brands want to say. Her advice to brand managers was simple: be more human. It’s important to remember that people come to Chinese social platforms not for advertising, but to seek inspiration and entertainment.

The common thread running through the entire summit was the scale of the opportunity that APAC represents for British luxury, and the importance of approaching it with the right foundations in place. China’s social media platforms move so quickly, and consumer tastes evolve constantly, so it can be hard to keep up.

Brands that bring in partners with genuine on-the-ground expertise, deep creator relationships, and a clear understanding of how to translate a brand’s DNA for Chinese audiences are the ones conquering the market. Those that treat the region as an extension of their existing global strategy often find the results harder to sustain and even risk facing backlash.

The Walpole APAC Luxury Summit was a timely reminder not only of the great ambition currently driving the sector, but also of the sustained, collaborative effort required to turn that potential into lasting success across China and the APAC region.

For luxury brands weighing up their China strategy, whether a first entry or a tactical reset, the conversation starts with understanding the market properly. TONG Global is a specialist bicultural China marketing agency with offices in London and Shanghai, working with brands throughout the discovery process, through into execution.