By Liu Yunzhong, Research Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy, DRC & Huang Yi, School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Information Science and Technology

Research Report, No.389, 2021 (Total 6454) 2021-12-14

Abstract: In this paper, China’s multi-regional provincial input-output table is used to study the spatial distribution of the manufacturing industry in China, and the focus model is used to sort out the migration of China’s manufacturing center since the reform and opening up. The stylized facts of the changes in the spatial center of China’s manufacturing industry revealed by this paper are as follows. The changes of the center of manufacturing industry is similar to that of the secondary industry, but the former moves closer to the southeast region of China. The fluctuation range of the manufacturing center varies greatly in different periods. The center of the manufacturing industry has been moving southward in longitudinal direction, while horizontally shifting in east-west direction, undergoing a process of changing from west to east and back to west. There are significant differences in the changes of the manufacturing center with different factor intensities. Changes in transportation modes and dependence on characteristic resources are important factors affecting the shift of the centers of various industries within labor-intensive manufacturing industries. Resource dependence and industrial base are the key forces influencing the shift of the spatial center of capital-intensive manufacturing industry. Changes of the spatial center in the technology-intensive manufacturing industry are more affected by the maturity of technologies and products.

Keywords: manufacturing industry, spatial layout, change of centers, division of centers