In our centennial year, this flagship event brought together CEOs and CXOs from leading Chinese and multinational institutions. A central theme emerged: China's growth logic is being rewritten — from high-speed expansion to structural optimization.

Macro Perspectives & The Logic of Growth

Joe Ngai, Chairman of McKinsey Greater China, framed the challenge: companies must transition from "getting bigger" to "getting stronger" – moving from individual capabilities to sustainable systems. He posed three questions every enterprise faces: Is AI a threat or leverage? Where's the next growth curve? Can organizations support this transformation?

Jeongmin Seong 成政珉, Partner with the McKinsey Global Institute, drew from our new book, A Century of Plenty, to examine whether the "progress mechanisms" that drove a century of prosperity remain intact. China's role in energy transition is critical: roughly two-thirds of large-scale global low-carbon deployment is happening in China.

Over lunch, our industry sessions enabled focused conversations across consumer, financial services, healthcare, industrials, travel, and family-owned business sectors.

Deep Dives: AI & Family-Owned Businesses

Our afternoon AI sessions surfaced a pattern: enterprises trapped in pilot purgatory – not from lack of technology, but organizational inertia. Asutosh Padhi, Senior Partner & Global Leader, Firm Strategy, argued that AI is a general-purpose technology that will redefine work boundaries, not simply replace jobs. Lambert Bu, Senior Partner, noted that in China, AI's widest application isn't customer service or marketing, but knowledge management – reflecting how experience-driven management is being scaled through technology.

In parallel, at our family-owned business session, Mingyu Guan, Senior Partner, pointed out that family businesses are the true executing entities of long-term strategic transformation and globalization. Acha Leke, Senior Partner and Chairman of McKinsey Africa, and Gautam Kumra, Senior Partner and Chair, Asia, shared research showing one-third of family businesses create value during succession – but only when treated as a strategic exercise, not administrative handover.

Experiencing Innovation Firsthand

Beyond the panels, participants engaged with demonstrations of factory metaverses, Gen AI, intelligent agents, and operational automation – practical tools reshaping how work gets done.

Thank you to all who joined us to navigate these questions together.