Dongguan, China. Once synonymous with the “world’s factory,” the southern Chinese industrial powerhouse of Dongguan is transforming itself into a global smart manufacturing hub, combining its vast production ecosystem with digital technology, advanced supply chains and an increasing focus on environmentally sustainable materials.

The old saying that “we manufacture everything here” still largely applies to Dongguan. What has changed is how those products are made. Manufacturing is increasingly integrated with sophisticated supply chains and supported by advances in information technology, automation and digitalization, allowing companies to take products from design to commercial production at remarkable speed.

“Art toy orders can be completed from concept sketch to mass launch in just 10 days,” Ye Huiming, director of the Development and Reform Bureau of the Dongguan Municipal Government, told a seminar on Thursday.

Dongguan sits in Guangdong Province on the eastern bank of the Pearl River Estuary, at the heart of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and along the Guangzhou-Shenzhen science and technology innovation corridor. The city covers about 2,460 square kilometers and has a population of around 10.8 million.

Its strategic location places Dongguan within one of China's most economically dynamic regions, with extensive road and rail connections linking it with Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The city has long benefited from its proximity to major ports, technology centers and international trade networks.

Manufacturing remains the backbone of Dongguan’s economy. Its established industries range from electronics and electrical equipment to textiles, garments, footwear, food processing and paper products. Over the years, the city has also developed emerging industries including advanced displays, photovoltaics and other technology-intensive manufacturing.

That industrial foundation is now being adapted to a global economy increasingly shaped by automation, digitalization and environmental standards.

Ye said Dongguan authorities are “proactively aligning with international green trade rules” while systematically developing an industrial ecosystem encompassing green factories and green supply chains.

According to Ye, local authorities increasingly regard compliance with international environmental standards not simply as an obligation but as a competitive advantage for Dongguan’s manufacturing sector.

“We promote enterprises to shift from passive compliance to active leadership,” he told participants at the Asia-Pacific Media Forum at OPPO Binhaiwan Park in Dongguan.

Dongguan's economy reached about RMB 1.28 trillion ($189.9 billion) in 2025, putting it among China's major city economies, according to local government data. The city is also home to nearly 2 million registered business entities.

Industry continues to play an unusually prominent role in the local economy. Secondary industries, including manufacturing and construction, account for roughly 55% of Dongguan's GDP, while services contribute about 44%.

Dongguan is also deeply integrated into international commerce. Its merchandise trade is valued at around RMB 1.4 trillion, illustrating the importance of exports and global supply chains to the city's economy.

Its location provides another competitive advantage. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are within easy reach, while Hong Kong is also closely connected through the Greater Bay Area's extensive transport infrastructure, giving manufacturers access to major financial, logistics, technology and export hubs.

From Environmental Compliance to Competitive Advantage
Tighter environmental regulations and the global drive toward net-zero emissions have not stopped Dongguan's industrial expansion. Instead, they are helping reshape what the city manufactures and how its factories operate.

“Dongguan didn't abandon its manufacturing DNA -- it evolved. The same networks that once produced consumer electronics and textiles were retooled, retrained, and redirected toward recyclable materials production,” researcher Volker Alstadt told the same forum.

The transition is increasingly visible in industries supplying materials for electric vehicles, batteries and environmentally friendly packaging.

“Dongguan hosts the world's important cluster of green materials enterprises -- companies producing everything from recyclable composite materials for electric vehicles to advanced battery components to bio-based packaging solutions that are replacing traditional plastics across global markets,” Alstadt said.

The transformation builds on an unusually broad manufacturing ecosystem developed over decades. Dongguan has established production capabilities spanning dozens of industries, allowing manufacturers to source components, suppliers and supporting services within a highly concentrated geographical area.

That density, once instrumental in making Dongguan one of the world's leading centers for labor-intensive export manufacturing, is increasingly being combined with advanced technology and research infrastructure as the city moves further into higher-value production.

Dongguan is also part of China's broader effort to develop the Greater Bay Area into an international center for technological innovation and advanced manufacturing. The region encompasses Hong Kong and Macao as well as nine Guangdong cities, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan, with a combined population of more than 88 million and GDP exceeding RMB 15 trillion in 2025.

For Dongguan, the transition does not mean abandoning the industrial ecosystem that made the city famous. Rather, officials and researchers say the goal is to upgrade that ecosystem -- combining manufacturing scale and supply-chain depth with digital technology, faster product development and greener production.

The result is a city seeking to move beyond its old identity as a place where the world’s products were simply assembled, toward a new role in which those products are increasingly designed, developed and manufactured through smarter and more sustainable industrial systems.

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