On Jan 10, 2019, CNIPA announced in a press conference IP related figures for the year 2018.

1.54 million invention patent applications (equivalent to utility patent applications in the US) were filed with CNIPA. 432 thousand inventions patents were granted. 55 thousand PCT international applications were received by CNIPA, 9% increase from the previous year. 7.37 million trademark applications were filed and 5 million were registered.

Foreign parties filed 148 thousand invention patent applications, representing 9.1% increase from 2017 (note: this is probably the biggest increase in the past decade!). Foreign parties also filed 244 thousand trademark applications in 2018, a 16.5% increase from 2017.

Even though a lot needs to be improved in the Chinese IP system, apparently foreign parties' interest and faith in Chinese IP system has been monotonically increasing, for decades!