The Hurun Research Institute has released the list of China's most valuable brands in 2015. Published annually since 2006, the list comprehensively assesses the value of 200 home-grown brands on the Chinese mainland based on relevant economic statistics and consumer survey results.

Among the brands, 101 are privately held and 99 are State-owned, while a total of 170 saw their value increase. The total brand value reached US$696 billion, up 36 percent year-on-year.

Tencent, China's largest and most popular Internet service portal, claimed the title of the most valuable Chinese brand this year, worth US$44.7 billion. Taobao, the leading ecommerce platform in China, came in second, worth US$42.9 billion, overtaking China Mobile, Baidu and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). China Mobile ranked third, worth US$42.7 billion.

Three Internet giants, namely Tencent, Taobao and Baidu, top the ranking of private enterprise brands.

Xiaomi, a mobile phone brand, was the fastest riser with a fivefold gain, followed by TCL and Huawei.

This year's list included 26 newcomers, 70 percent of which are privately held, led by Letv, Anbang and Eastmoney.

Most brands on the list came from real estate or the financial industry, with 38 and 23 respectively, making up 30 percent of the top 200. Domestic appliances enjoyed the highest average growth rate of brand value at 74 percent, followed by e-commerce and retailing industries with 69 percent.

In terms of headquarter locations, 57 out of the 200 brands stemmed from Beijing-based businesses, followed by Guangdong with 38 and Shanghai with 27.

Read on to see the top 10 most valuable privately held brands in the Chinese mainland.

 Midea

Midea [File photo]

Brand value: US$4.68 billion

Increase: 81 percent

Industry: Home appliances

Headquarters: Guangdong Province