China Manufacturing

In 1980, China's per capita GDP was less than the poorest African nations. Manufacturing was state-run, wages were subsistence, infrastructure barely existed outside major cities. Special economic zones Shenzhen, Xiamen, Zhuhai, Shantu changed everything. Free from planning, open to investment, reduced tariffs, and demand-based wages. Factories arrived from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Labor intensive manufacturing, clothing, electronics, toys, industries that Japanese and Korean factories had outgrown. China offered lower wages and just enough infrastructure. The real advantage was scale and centralization. Thousands of factories located near each other, workers learned skills and moved between them, creating a concentrated labor market and knowledge base.