Against the backdrop of global supply chain restructuring, rising geopolitical risks and the increasing penetration of digital technologies into international trade, export resilience has emerged as a key metric for assessing the stability, shock-absorbing capacity and structural adaptability of foreign trade. As a major player in global trade, China faces fluctuations in external demand, the reshaping of international rules and a transition in its domestic development model; enhancing export resilience is therefore crucial for maintaining stable trade volumes, optimising trade structure and achieving high-level openness. This paper employs the CiteSpace bibliometric tool, combined with a systematic literature review, to conduct a knowledge map analysis and trace the academic trajectory of research on China’s export resilience between 2016 and 2026. The findings reveal that: 1) Research has evolved from a phase of gradual accumulation to one of rapid expansion, with themes shifting from export quality, product upgrading and institutional constraints towards digital technology empowerment, optimised resource allocation, supply chain restructuring and the generation of multidimensional resilience; 2) Research hotspots are concentrated on factor allocation, export product quality, the application of digital technologies and enterprise innovation, with the digital economy, cross-border e-commerce, technological innovation, financing constraints and resource allocation being high-frequency topics; 3) Emerging trends indicate that the impact of spatial agglomeration and cascade effects, sports goods exports and the digital transformation of manufacturing on export resilience warrants continued attention. Overall, research on China’s export resilience is shifting from a focus on single-outcome analysis towards a comprehensive research paradigm that takes into account processes, mechanisms and network structures.
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