China has outlined a strategy described in policy documents as “developing new quality productive forces in ways tailored to local conditions.” In practice, this involves leveraging local strengths, avoiding one-size-fits-all strategies, and focusing on industries suited to each area. This approach reflects a governing challenge: how to modernise a vast, diverse economy without wasting resources, or inflating bubbles. At its core, new quality productive forces refers to productivity growth driven not by adding labour or capital alone, but by innovation, new technologies, improved production methods, and better combinations of talent, capital and institutions. The focus is on growth through efficiency, sophistication and coordination rather than expansion alone. China faces structural challenges due to its continental-scale economy, where regions differ sharply in resources, industrial legacies, human capital and ecological constraints. Applying a uniform development model can lead to duplication, misallocation and inefficiency. Given this scale, regions differ significantly in economic conditions and industrial capacity. Cities such as Shenzhen, Harbin, Yinchuan, Zhengzhou and Shanghai start from different positions, suggesting that industrial strategies need to be tailored to local strengths rather than applied uniformly. Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, benefiting from stable seismic conditions, cool temperatures and abundant hydropower, has emerged as a national data centre cluster. In Gansu Province in the northwest, digital twin technology has been applied to river basins and irrigation systems, reportedly cutting agricultural water use by half. This reflects innovation shaped by regional constraints rather than industry trends, and illustrates how new quality productive forces advance when technology is matched to local realities. The emphasis on developing new quality productive forces tailored to local conditions highlights that regions may follow different development paths rather than adopting identical strategies. This reflects a recognition that scale without differentiation can potentially weaken, rather than strengthen, an economy. The governing logic is that no region is expected to opt out of modernisation, but each is expected to pursue it differently. Whether a region is a coastal technology hub, a resource-rich inland province, or an old industrial base, the expectation is the same: each must identify its own path to innovation-driven productivity. Constraints are factors to be considered in determining how productivity gains can be achieved under local conditions to credibly improve long-term prosperity. This approach reflects a broader governance philosophy. Rather than concentrating innovation in a few major cities, China is attempting to mobilise the entire economic landscape. The goal is to achieve a system-wide participation, so that development pressure does not fracture society or concentrate opportunity too narrowly. That’s why adapting to local conditions is not just rhetoric, it’s a necessity as China pursues innovation-led growth. Traditional industries are transformed, not abandoned. Emerging industries are cultivated selectively, and future industries are prepared through institutions, standards, and early-stage ecosystems, rather than chased speculatively. The assumption is that if each region develops its own locally grounded productive strengths, the combined effect will be greater than the sum of its parts. China is trying to turn regional diversity into a national productivity engine, like a portfolio of specialised ecosystems that reinforces itself and each other. This portfolio approach also carries a strategic payoff. By diversifying growth engines internally, China reduces vulnerability to external shocks, supply-chain disruptions and technological bottlenecks. Economic resilience is no longer just about scale, but also by redundancy, flexibility and coordination across regions. The broader ambition is not simply faster growth. By scaling internal diversity, China aims to modernise without leaving large parts of society behind, to pursue innovation without sacrificing cohesion, and to build a development model that can absorb shocks while continuing to evolve. As a governing idea, it reflects a serious attempt to rethink how economies innovate in a more inclusive way. Michael Wang is an anchor of CGTN’s BizTalk programme.
