Optimization of the system of personal property insurance protection: China’s experience and opportunities for Russia

China’s modern insurance market is the largest in the world in terms of several key indicators: both the number of contracts concluded and the volume of premiums collected. At the same time, insurance products related to property insurance are the second most popular among the population. However, the development curve of the insurance market in China is significantly different from the trajectories of changes in the insurance markets in Europe or the United States. This article is a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of insurance relations in the Chinese market under the influence of various factors, such as changes in the macroeconomic environment, the introduction of innovative technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic. During the transition from a planned economic system to a market one, as well as after China’s joining the WTO, external economic factors changed the development trends of China’s insurance industry. Based on the data of the National Bureau of Statistics of China for 2007–2020 and the Wind database, the authors built an econometric model that allowed analyzing the impact of various factors on the growth of property insurance in China. Special attention is paid to the impact of modern trends associated with the active introduction of digital technologies and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on the development of the property insurance segment. The ongoing optimization of the system of insurance protection of the property of the population is primarily due to its risk management function. China’s experience in the development of insurance relations in the national market may be in demand in Russia, which belongs to countries with a developing insurance market.