Americans are often concerned about how Chinese economic growth and the rise of major Chinese businesses could impact U.S. interests. With the People’s Republic expected to pass the United States in gross domestic product sometime in the next two to three decades, reports about Chinese currency manipulation, protective trade practices and pirating of U.S. products and services are even more worrisome.

Many of the very large companies in China were started by the government or were initially joint ventures between the government and private enterprise. This means the government has had a hand in building companies that often compete directly with U.S. businesses. Many Americans are not familiar with the Chinese companies — their names or what they do. But, as might be expected, for almost every large corporation in the U.S. there are one or more counterparts in China.

Click here to see China’s 10 most powerful brands

Brand valuation is one way to peg the most important companies in China. The largest brand consultancy firms — Interbrand and BrandZ — measure global U.S. brands and Chinese brands. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most valuable Chinese brands and matched them to their U.S. counterparts to show not only the businesses that drive the Chinese economy, but also the extent to which these are similar to the biggest businesses in America.

The most valuable brands in China and the United States fall into very few categories. Financial firms is one category. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) are among the largest American companies. Four of the most valuable brands in China are also banks.

Telecom is another category, with telcos among the largest in America based on sales and brand values. The most valuable brand in China belongs to China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL), the country’s largest cellular provider, with more than 710 million customers. Verizon Wireless, the largest in the U.S., has 98.2 million subscribers.

U.S. Internet companies such as Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) are among the most valuable brands in America. Among the most valuable brands in China are Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), the largest search engine in the country, and Tencent, the Chinese versions of Twitter.

Some industries, such as car brands, have high brand values in the United States and throughout the world but do not have Chinese counterparts. Chinese car companies have virtually no exports. China also has no massive software companies resembling Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) or International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM). For the time being it relies on U.S. or Europe for these kinds of products.

In order to identify China’s 10 most valuable brands, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most recent lists of the top Chinese brands, as compiled by brand valuation firms BrandZ and Interbrand. Based on those two lists, we identified the 10 brands that were consistently the highest ranked. In addition to our rank, we reviewed company financials from corporate filings. When possible, we also compared these companies to American companies in similar industries and with similar brand ranking in the United States.

These are the most powerful Chinese brands.

10. Ping An
> Brand Z value: $10.6 billion (12th highest)
> Interbrand value: $11.2 billion (6th highest)
> Total revenue: $42.2 billion
> Industry: Insurance
> American counterpart: Metlife

Ping An is one of China’s largest insurance companies. Like one major American counterpart, Metlife Inc. (NYSE: MET), the company has expanded from insurance into banking and financial services in recent years, although MetLife recently sold its banking unit. Last year, Ping An merged with Shenzhen Development Bank, and was renamed Ping An Bank. In August, the company launched a joint venture with Chinese technology firms Alibaba and Tencent to sell insurance online. In addition to an expanding online presence, the company is also growing its physical presence. The Ping An International Finance Center in Shenzhen is projected by its builder, Thornton Tomasetti, to be the second-tallest building in the world when it is finished.

Also Read: America’s Oldest Brands

9. Moutai
> Brand Z value: $13.0 billion (9th highest)
> Interbrand value: $6.3 billion (9th highest)
> Total revenue: $1.6 billion
> Industry: Alcohol
> American counterpart: Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BF-B)

Moutai is a brand of baijiu, a popular Chinese liquor, and it markets itself as China’s national drink. The company that owns the brand, Kweichou Moutai Company, was previously a government-owned business. Moutai, which is aged for several decades, can be quite expensive. In 2011, international liquor conglomerate Diageo PLC (NYSE: DEO) bought a majority stake in baiju brand Shiu Jing Fang. However, the company must compete with not only Moutai, but also with Wu Liang Ye, each rated by both BrandZ and Interbrand as being among China’s 20 most valuable brands. Baijiu is frequently in-demand at government events, and officials have been criticized for excess spending on the drink.

8. Baidu
> Brand Z value: $22.7 billion (4th highest)
> Interbrand value: $2.5 billion (13th highest)
> Total revenue: $2.2 billion
> Industry: Internet
> American counterpart: Google

Baidu is the Chinese equivalent of Google, the world’s largest Internet search engine. Just as Google has expanded beyond search to hardware and software, Baidu has moved into new industries such as mobile phones and cloud computing. With these moves, Baidu’s value has skyrocketed. The company, founded in 2000, launched its cloud-based operating system, Baidu Cloud, last year. It also owns a browser for Android-based phones. According to Brand Z, Baidu is the go-to search engine for 340 million of the China’s 540 million Web users. According to Interbrand, between 2010 and 2011, the company’s brand value grew by roughly 80%, and it increased an additional 24% in 2012. Brand Z has Baidu’s year-over-year value increasing by 40% last year.

7. Tencent
> Brand Z value: $20.2 billion (5th highest)
> Interbrand value: $7.8 billion (8th highest)
> Total revenue: $4.5 billion
> Industry: Internet
> American counterpart: Twitter

Tencent’s brand value rose 60% from 2011 to 2012, according to BrandZ. The growth was attributed to its increased focus on mobile messaging through its message application called Weixin. In addition, Tencent also offers an instant messaging application called QQ and a Twitter-like microblogging service called Tencent Weibo. Tencent’s microblogging service has an estimated 540 million registered users and 277 million active users, according to technology news startup Tech in Asia. But it may not even be the most impactful microblogging service in China. Rival Sina Weibo has slightly more active users, at 287 million, and a wealthier user base. By comparison, Twitter only recently passed 200 million active users.

6. Bank of China
> Brand Z value: $13.6 billion (8th highest)
> Interbrand value: $12.7 billion (5th highest)
> Total revenue: $60.8 billion
> Industry: Financial services
> American counterpart: Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC)

The Bank of China, now the third-largest bank in the country based on assets, was founded in 1912 when the country’s Qing Dynasty failed. By 1928, the company became the first government-chartered bank to operate internationally, and today it has a presence in 36 different countries. The company went public on multiple stock exchanges in 2006. In 2011, the company made headlines when it began allowing U.S. citizens to open accounts at several of its American branches. The bank’s Brand value fell by 27% in 2012 compared to 2011, more than any of large Chinese banks. A major reason for this decline was a dragging Chinese economy and weakened company profits.

5. Agricultural Bank of China
> Brand Z value: $17.3 billion (6th highest)
> Interbrand value: $9.2 billion (7th highest)
> Total revenue: $62.4 billion
> Industry: Financial services
> American counterpart: Bank of America

The Agricultural Bank of China provides a wide range of financial services, including personal banking, corporate banking and wealth management. By the end of 2011, the company had more than 23,400 branches in mainland China. The company employs more than 444,000 people as of April 2012. In 2010, the company raised approximately $22.1 billion in an initial public offering, making it the world’s largest IPO in history. Although most of its business is in China, the company has expanded overseas as well. Last June, Agricultural Bank received a license from the New York Department of Financial Services to operate a branch in the state.

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4. China Life
> Brand Z value: $14.4 billion (7th highest)
> Interbrand value: $13.4 billion (4th highest)
> Total revenue: $56 billion
> Industry: Insurance
> American counterpart: American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG)

Following the breakup of state-owned monopoly People’s Insurance Company of China in 1999, China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LFC) emerged to become the most dominant insurer in the country. The company has more than a third of the market share for life insurance in mainland China, a higher share than any other firm. As of the middle of 2012, the company managed approximately 144 million in-house policies, including life insurance, health insurance and annuities. China Life has a large team to deal with all these accounts of more than 682,000 exclusive insurance agents, 14,000 direct sales representatives and 27,000 customer service managers.

3. ICBC
> Brand Z value: $40.4 billion (2nd highest)
> Interbrand value: $16.7 billion (3rd highest)
> Total revenue: $82.6 billion
> Industry: Financial services
> American counterpart: Citigroup

ICBC, short for the International and Commercial Bank of China, is BrandZ’s most valuable Chinese financial brand, and Interbrand’s second-most valuable behind China Construction Bank. The company, like its American counterpart Citigroup, is active in a many countries. But unlike Citigroup, which is looking to shrink its international presence, ICBC is hoping to grow abroad. When the bank went public in 2006, its IPO was the largest of all-time worldwide at $21.9 billion. This record has since been passed by Agricultural Bank of China. Goldman Sachs raised more than $8.6 billion in reducing the size of its ownership of ICBC, according to The Wall Street Journal.

2. China Construction Bank
> Brand Z value: $24.0 billion (3rd highest)
> Interbrand value: $18.0 billion (2nd highest)
> Total revenue: $68.7 billion
> Industry: Financial services
> American counterpart: J.P. Morgan Chase

Of the “big four” banks in China, China Construction Bank has the most valuable brand. The firm notes that it is a market leader of different financial products and services such as “infrastructure loans, residential [mortgages] and bank cards.” By the end of 2011, the bank operated more than 13,500 branches in countries such as China, Japan, South Africa and the United States. Bank of America owned 10% of China Construction Bank until it decided to sell approximately half of its investment in in 2011, raising $3.5 billion in capital in order to meet new regulatory requirements enacted in the U.S.

Also Read: Seven Companies Forced to Change Their Name

1. China Mobile
> Brand Z value: $50.6 billion (the highest)
> Interbrand value:$33.8 billion (the highest)
> Total revenue: $81.7 billion
> Industry: Telecommunications
> American counterpart: Verizon Wireless

Wireless telecommunications firm China Mobile is considered the most valuable brand in China by a longshot. As of the end of 2012, the company had more than 710 million customers using its services, nearly double its customer base from five years earlier. The company added more than 60 million customers in 2012 alone. Most of the country is still on 2G wireless technology, although the number of people taking advantage of China Mobile’s 3G network has more than quadrupled in the past two years. Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook met with China Mobile Chairman Xia Guohua in January, leading to speculation that the company will offer the iPhone in the near future.

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