A consumer walks past an advertisement of e-commerce platform Pinduoduo at a shopping mall in Shanghai. [Photo provided to China Daily]

　　China is no longer treating consumption as merely an economic outcome. It is increasingly treating consumer spending as a strategic tool.

　　China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) marks a critical milestone in the country's development. While earlier phases of reform prioritized investment, exports and infrastructure, the new plan formalizes a structural pivot toward domestic consumption, technological upgrading and systemic resilience.

　　The new five-year plan makes one thing unmistakably clear: China's next growth engine is not exports. It is consumption. The question is not what, but who will deliver it.

　　The answer lies in the rapid growth of businesses such as PDD Holdings and its subsidiaries, Pinduoduo and Temu. This is not retail; this is policy execution at scale.

　　At the center of this transition lies the strategic framework of the "dual circulation" model. This approach prioritizes domestic demand, or "internal circulation", while maintaining openness to global trade and investment, or "external circulation". The objective is not decoupling, but rebalancing — building an economy in which domestic consumption and production reinforce each other in a dynamic cycle.

　　Within this framework, digital platforms have emerged as critical institutional actors. These companies are not merely commercial enterprises. They function as market infrastructure aligned with national development priorities.