The manufacturing industry is an important base for national power. Beijing's position today is based on the prosperity of China's real economy. If China wants to maintain its position in the world, it cannot afford to lose the support of a strong manufacturing industry, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

The global crisis reflects the importance of real economy as well. The main cause for the recession is the virtual economy. Germany remains the strongest and most robust economy in Europe because of its real economy has a solid foundation.

The United States realizes the importance of the manufacturing industry and would like to recover its real economy with national polices.

China's manufacturing industry has encountered increasingly more competitors, from both developing countries and developed ones.

But China should also see its strengths. For example, even if some low-end manufacturing industries move to Southeast Asian countries, their raw materials and equipment will still mostly come from China. The productivity of China's manufacturing industry accounts for 19.8 percent of the world total, just ahead of the US at 19.4 percent.

The rise of China's manufacturing industry can be attributed to its creativity and hard work in the early 1980s. It is time for China to further upgrade its industrial structures. The global crisis forces China to do so.

China should move up the industrial chain from the lower level to the middle level and realize the change from made-in-China to made-by-China, which entails more input in innovation and the upgrading of industrial structures. It is also an important step for China to transform its economic growth model.