Rejuvenating forces for manufacturing

China's manufacturing sector has witnessed accelerated transformation and upgrading in recent years, as indicated by the boom in intelligent robots, 3D printing and high-precision equipment manufacturing.

Shenzhen epitomizes China's manufacturing development over the past decades, with its evolution into a leading center for business startups and innovation and its continuing and fruitful transformation from original equipment manufacturer to original design manufacturer and even original brand manufacturer. Shenzhen has developed into a Chinese "Silicon Valley".

China's manufacturing has for a long time been at the low end of the global value chain and its confinement to assembling and processing has resulted in paying a heavy price in terms of its resources and environment. However, some domestic enterprises in the Pearl River Delta have shifted to a technology-intensive manufacturing model and the region is no longer synonymous with the omnipresent cheap, sometimes low-quality Chinese products associated with "made in China".