The Value and Exploration of Culture Empowering the New Image of Manufacturing

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that manufacturing is the lifeblood of our national economy, the foundation for building the country, and the basis for strengthening the nation, and that we must “promote the transformation of ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China,’ of ‘Chinese speed’ to ‘Chinese quality,’ and of ‘Chinese products’ to ‘Chinese brands.’” [1]1 This refers to the “Three Transformations” directive issued by Xi Jinping, emphasizing a shift from quantitative scale to qualitative brand strength in China’s manufacturing sector. These important expositions both clarify the strategic position of manufacturing and echo the cultural tradition of “revitalizing the country through industry.” As an important practical direction, culture empowering the development of manufacturing requires us to explore concrete pathways, deeply excavate the cultural connotations of manufacturing, forge a new image of Chinese manufacturing that is both powerful and elegant, both efficient and warm, both intelligent and rich in humanistic care, and achieve the leap from a large manufacturing country to a strong manufacturing country.

习近平总书记指出，制造业是我国经济命脉所系，是立国之本、强国之基，要“推动中国制造向中国创造转变、中国速度向中国质量转变、中国产品向中国品牌转变”。这些重要论述，既阐明了制造业的战略地位，也呼应了“实业兴国”的文化传统。作为重要的实践方向，文化赋能制造业发展，要求我们探索具体路径，深挖制造业的文化内涵，锻造既强大又优雅、既高效又温暖、既智能又富有人文关怀的中国制造新形象，实现从制造大国向制造强国的跨越。

An Inevitable Requirement for High-Quality Development of Manufacturing

制造业高质量发展的必然要求

At a time when the global manufacturing landscape is undergoing profound adjustment, the deep integration of culture and manufacturing is giving birth to a unique beauty of manufacturing. Adhering to the Marxist stance, viewpoint, and method, and innovatively exploring “manufacturing aesthetics,” is an inherent requirement for insisting on the coordinated development of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, a requirement of the times for responding to the people’s needs for a better life, and a practical requirement for promoting the high-quality development of manufacturing.

在全球制造业格局深刻调整之际，文化与制造业的深度融合正催生独特的制造之美。坚持马克思主义立场观点方法，创新探索“制造美学”，是坚持物质文明与精神文明协调发展的题中之义，是顺应人民美好生活需要的时代要求，是推动制造业高质量发展的实践要求。

When culture thrives, the nation thrives; when culture is strong, the nation is strong. Xi Jinping’s economic thought and Xi Jinping’s cultural thought are mutually interconnected, profoundly revealing the law of integration and interactive development between culture and economy, and pointing out the “humanistic code” for China’s economy and society to move toward high-quality development. Culture is no longer confined to the purely spiritual sphere but is deeply embedded in the economic fabric. After years of development, China’s manufacturing industry has not only formed hard power to compete globally but also soft power reflecting humanistic characteristics, namely, “manufacturing aesthetics” with Chinese characteristics. Culture can endow manufacturing with profound humanistic heritage and value pursuits, making manufacturing not only a combination of functionality and artistry but also embodying the organic unity of humanity’s pursuit of a better life and adherence to the “laws of beauty.” In manufacturing practice, through concrete expressions such as design, craftsmanship, and form, cultural concepts are transformed into perceptible, experienceable, and transmittable material forms, achieving the concretization and life-oriented application of cultural connotations.

文化兴则国运兴，文化强则民族强。习近平经济思想和习近平文化思想是相互贯通的，深刻揭示了文化与经济的交融互动和融合发展规律，指明了我国经济社会迈向高质量发展的“人文密码”。文化已不止于纯粹的精神范畴，而是深度嵌入经济肌理。中国制造业历经多年发展，不仅形成了参与世界竞争的硬实力，更形成了体现人文特色的软实力，即中国特色的“制造美学”。文化可赋予制造业深厚的人文底蕴与价值追求，使制造不仅是功能性与艺术性的结合，更体现出人类对美好生活追求与对“美的规律”遵循的有机统一。制造实践中，通过设计、工艺、形态等具体表达，将文化理念转化为可感知、可体验、可传播的物质形态，实现文化内涵的具象化和生活化。

Reflecting the inherent requirements of humanistic economics. Humanistic economics emphasizes that economic activities should be people-centered, focusing on improving people’s quality of life and spiritual satisfaction. Currently, emerging forms of consumption such as emotional consumption are flourishing; products not only emphasize practicality but also pay attention to visual aesthetics, cultural connotations, and emotional resonance. This trend sets higher standards for the industrial ecology of industrial cities and raises new aesthetic and cultural requirements for manufacturing, reflecting more of the “warmth” and “depth” of economic development. It can be said that this is a new idea and new paradigm for using humanistic economics to promote the high-quality development of manufacturing, and also a vivid manifestation of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought in economic practice.

反映人文经济学的内在要求。人文经济学强调经济活动应以人为本，注重提升人民的生活品质和精神满足程度。当前，情绪消费等新兴消费方兴未艾，产品不仅讲究实用，还注重视觉美感、文化内涵和情感共鸣。这种趋势对工业城市的产业生态提出更高标准，对制造业提出新的审美与文化要求，更多体现经济发展的“温度”与“深度”。可以说，这是运用人文经济学推动制造业高质量发展的一个新思路新范式，也是习近平文化思想在经济实践中的生动展现。

Embodying an important direction for developing new quality productive forces. New quality productive forces are led by innovation, and innovation in the cultural field is equally a key variable. In the process of manufacturing development, through cultural empowerment, product value is restructured, new business forms such as high-end cultural equipment manufacturing and digital cultural creativity are spawned, and industries are pushed onto new tracks of high added value and high cultural content. Culture empowering the development of manufacturing is based on the practice of new-type industrialization, requiring the integration of cultural expression and technological means to enhance the cultural value, emotional value, and brand communication capability of manufacturing. This is both an important direction for developing new quality productive forces and a manifestation of the humanistic care of technology for good.

体现发展新质生产力的重要方向。新质生产力以创新为主导，文化领域的创新同样是关键变量。制造业发展过程中，通过文化赋能，重构产品价值，催生高端文化装备制造、数字文创等新业态，推动产业转向高附加值、高文化含量的新赛道。文化赋能制造业发展，立足于新型工业化实践，要求借助文化表达与科技手段的融合应用，提升制造业的文化价值、情感价值和品牌传播能力。这既是发展新质生产力的重要方向，也体现了科技向善的人文关怀。

The Cultural Connotations of Manufacturing Competitiveness

制造业竞争力的文化内涵

Culture empowering the development of manufacturing emphasizes integrating aesthetic concepts, aesthetic perception, and aesthetic value into the production practice of manufacturing, incorporating cultural symbols and emotional experiences into products, and achieving production according to the “laws of beauty.” Every breakthrough in manufacturing craftsmanship greatly expands the narrative space of culture, vividly demonstrating the effective combination of the achievements of human cultural development and the art of manufacturing craftsmanship, and highlighting the unique value of culture in shaping the competitiveness of manufacturing. Its connotations can be analyzed from the following dimensions.

文化赋能制造业发展，强调在制造业生产实践中融入美学理念、美学感知和美学价值，将文化符号、情感体验融入产品，实现按照“美的规律”进行生产。制造工艺的每一次突破，都在极大拓展文化的叙事空间，生动展现人类文化发展成果与制造工艺艺术的有效结合，彰显出文化在塑造制造业竞争力过程中的独特价值，其内涵可以从以下维度来解析。

From the perspective of the beauty of design, it is an aesthetic practice of overall layout from macro structure to micro details. By integrating diverse knowledge from society, economy, culture, and other fields, and combining it with creative design, technological innovation, and the application of new materials, fine traditional Chinese culture is incorporated into the design process. Integrated innovation is carried out on product functions, structures, forms, and packaging, merging artistic beauty with practical functional needs, making design an important vehicle for spreading Chinese culture.

从设计之美来看，是从宏观结构到微观细节整体布局的美学实践。通过整合社会、经济、文化等多元知识，并将其与创意设计、技术革新及新材料应用相结合，把中华优秀传统文化融入设计环节，对产品功能、结构、形态和包装进行集成创新，使艺术美感与实用功能需求融为一体，让设计成为传播中华文化的重要载体。

From the perspective of the beauty of craftsmanship, it encompasses manufacturing precision, texture expression, material processing capability, and the intrinsic quality of products. It is both a direct manifestation of the manufacturing industry’s spirit of continuous improvement and aligns with the spirit of labor and the spirit of craftsmanship. Through process improvement and precise optimization of workflows, a harmonious unity between material technology and artistic conception is achieved, realizing “using technology to create art,” making craftsmanship a meeting point of cultural heritage and technological innovation.

从工艺之美来看，涵盖制造精度、质感表现、材料处理能力以及产品内在品质，既是制造业精益求精精神的直接体现，也契合了劳动精神与工匠精神。通过工艺改进和流程的精准优化，达到材质工技与意匠营构和谐统一，实现“用技术创造艺术”，让工艺成为文化传承与技术创新的结合点。

From the perspective of the beauty of production, it presents the overall coordination and creativity of the manufacturing system. Through the widespread application and practice of new technologies such as intelligent manufacturing, digital design, and flexible production, the aesthetic direction of “perceptible technology” is explored, providing greater freedom and expressive capability for production and manufacturing, and promoting the production process as a practice of cultural concepts.

从生产之美来看，呈现的是制造体系整体的协调性与创造性。通过智能制造、数字化设计、柔性生产等新技术的广泛应用实践，探索“科技可感知”的美学方向，为生产制造提供更高自由度与表达能力，推动生产过程成为文化理念的践行过程。

From the perspective of the beauty of the product, it displays the final outcome of manufacturing. Promoting Chinese culture to better reach the world guides the direction of shaping product aesthetics. Whether by taking product structural innovation or the use of new materials as entry points to transform product hardware into designs with more “warmth,” or by shaping product character through original design and brand language, integrating elements of fine traditional Chinese culture and fashionable aesthetics into consumers’ lives, products become powerful disseminators of cultural value and aesthetic value.

从产品之美来看，展示的是制造的最终成果。推动中华文化更好走向世界，指引着产品美学的塑造方向。或以产品结构创新、新材质运用等为切入点，把产品硬件转化为更具“温度”的设计；或在设计原创与品牌语言中塑造产品气质，将中华优秀传统文化元素与时尚美学融入消费者生活，使之成为文化价值和美学价值的有力传播者。

It should also be noted that culture empowering the development of manufacturing both embodies the value orientation of adhering to a people-centered approach, highlighting the humanistic care and social responsibility of manufacturing activities, so that manufacturing outcomes better meet the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs, and reflects the new thinking generated by the manufacturing industry in practicing the new development concept, integrating cultural confidence and cultural subjectivity into development concepts, reshaping the paradigm of industrial development, and highlighting institutional advantages.

还要看到，文化赋能制造业发展，既体现了坚持以人民为中心的价值取向，彰显制造活动的人文关怀和社会责任感，让制造成果更好满足人民日益增长的精神文化需求，也体现了制造业在践行新发展理念中产生的新思维，将文化自信、文化主体性等融入发展理念，重塑工业发展范式，彰显制度优势。

Practice has proven that only by mastering the dominant power of discourse can one master the right to define the Chinese path, the right to interpret the Chinese spirit, and the right to shape the Chinese image. Future competition in manufacturing will not only be a competition of technology but also a competition of cultural narrative power. Adhering to culture empowering the development of manufacturing means transforming cold industrial logic into warm cultural expression, making “Made in China” an important vehicle for transmitting the national spirit and addressing common human issues.

实践证明，只有掌握话语的主导权，才能掌握中国道路的定义权、中国精神的阐释权、中国形象的塑造权。未来制造业竞争不仅是技术之争，更是文化叙事权之争。坚持文化赋能制造业发展，是将冰冷的工业逻辑转化为有温度的文化表达，使“中国制造”成为传递民族精神、解决人类共同命题的重要载体。

Important Pathways for Culture Empowering Manufacturing

文化赋能制造业的重要路径

Culture empowering the development of manufacturing emphasizes taking culture as the soul and craftsmanship as the bone, achieving the unity of “technique and Dao” and “vessel and beauty” through the medium of products. This not only pushes manufacturing from “creating objects” to “creating beauty” but also becomes a humanistic footnote of industrial civilization in the New Era, echoing humanity’s pursuit of a better life.

文化赋能制造业发展，强调以文化为魂、工艺为骨，通过产品这一媒介实现“技与道”“器与美”的统一，这不仅推动制造业从“造物”迈向“造美”，更成为新时代工业文明的人文注脚，呼应人类对美好生活的追求。

Refining the aesthetic quality of industries. First, guide the cultural construction of industrial clusters. Focusing on the important task of cultivating world-class industrial clusters, explore and promote the deep integration of aesthetics with production and manufacturing, incorporate cultural confidence and value guidance into cluster development, and enhance the cultural soft power and international competitiveness of clusters. Second, expand the application scenarios of cultural industries. Strengthen the guidance and cultivation of cultural industries, interpret, deepen, and expand manufacturing aesthetics through vivid innovation practices, and allow its rich connotations to be fully reflected in cultural industry scenarios. Third, build an overseas-going matrix. Integrate the spiritual symbols and cultural essence of Chinese civilization into modern technology, embed aesthetic creativity into independent product design, imprint products with the unique mark of traditional culture, making them globally accepted “aesthetic symbols,” and shift from exporting products to exporting “products + culture,” thereby enhancing the position of “Made in China” in the global industrial chain and value chain.

凝练产业美学品质。一是引导产业集群文化建设。围绕培育世界级产业集群的重要任务，探索推动美学与生产制造等深度融合，将文化自信、价值引领融入集群发展，提升产业集群的文化软实力与国际竞争力。二是拓展文化产业应用场景。强化对文化产业的引导培育，通过生动的创新实践诠释、深化和拓展制造美学，让其在文化产业场景中充分体现丰富内涵。三是打造出海矩阵。把中华文明的精神标识和文化精髓融入现代科技，把美学创意嵌入产品自主设计，让产品打上传统文化独特印记，成为全球接受的“美学符号”，从产品出口变为“产品+文化”出海，提升“中国制造”在全球产业链价值链中的地位。

Shaping the city’s brand image. The industrial image is the hardcore IP of a city. People’s pursuit of the beauty of manufacturing will drive productive forces to leap toward a higher level, and will shape a city’s character with new industrial culture as its distinctive marker, promoting the role upgrade of relevant cities from production bases to sources of innovative brands. This will greatly enhance the city’s competitiveness and influence. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, “In places where culture is highly developed, the economy still leads the way.” The important proposition of humanistic economics enlightens us that manufacturing cities can also become beautiful. Cities and industries will become more closely linked because of the common values inherent in culture and manufacturing; at the same time, manufacturing and culture will draw closer because of “beauty.” In such a coupled system, multiple factors will form a virtuous cycle, promoting the diversification of economic forms and the continuous enrichment of the cultural innovation and creativity ecosystem. It should also be noted that industrial buildings, including factories, often bring a strong aesthetic experience through their unique forms, becoming landmark buildings or aesthetic landscapes. The development of industrial aesthetic scenes can be intensified, using industrial heritage to create theme parks, carrying out tourism-oriented transformation of relevant factories, and improving the quality of cultural supply through spaces with industrial aesthetic characteristics, making them important media for displaying the city’s cultural heritage.

塑造城市品牌形象。工业形象是城市的硬核IP。人们对制造之美的追求，将驱动生产力向高级化跃迁，并塑造出以新型工业文化为鲜明标识的城市品格，推动相关城市从生产基地到创新品牌策源地的角色升级。这将极大提升城市竞争力和影响力。习近平总书记提出，“文化很发达的地方，经济照样走在前面”。人文经济学的重要命题启示我们，制造业城市也可以美起来。城市与产业会因为文化与制造业内蕴的共通价值而联结得更加紧密；同时，制造业与文化也会因“美”而趋近。在这样的耦合系统中，多种要素将形成良性循环，推动经济形态的多元化和文化创新创意生态的不断丰富。还要看到，工业建筑包括厂房等，往往以其独特造型等带来强烈的美学体验，成为地标式建筑或美学景观。可加大对工业美学场景的开发，利用工业遗址打造主题公园，对相关工厂进行旅游化改造，以工业美学特色空间提升文化供给质量，使其成为展现城市文化底蕴的重要媒介。

Inheriting and promoting cultural spirit. First, manifesting the spirit of craftsmanship with the pursuit of excellence as its core. This spirit is not only embodied in the ultimate pursuit of craft and technology, but also reflected in the adherence to quality, responsibility, and culture; it is a concrete manifestation of cultural confidence in the manufacturing field. Second, shaping the collective image of Chinese entrepreneurs in the New Era. When “Made in China” continuously climbs toward the peak of science and technology, it is in fact also advancing toward the realm of beauty. This embodies the persistence in quality, the focus on innovation, and the consciousness of internalizing the spirit of craftsmanship as professional ethics. Third, promoting the coordinated development of “people—industry—city—culture.” Culture empowering manufacturing not only enhances the cultural value of products and the aesthetic quality of cities, but also promotes the deep integration of human creativity, industrial competitiveness, urban functional layout, and cultural soft power. It is necessary to adhere to the people-centered development thought, making manufacturing a carrier of culture and emotion, thereby continuously invigorating industrial civilization and moving toward a new stage of high-quality development.

传承弘扬文化精神。一是彰显以精益求精为核心的工匠精神。这种精神不仅体现在对工艺技术的极致追求上，更反映在对品质、责任和文化的坚守之中，是文化自信在制造领域的具体展现。二是塑造新时代中国企业家的集体形象。当“中国制造”不断向科技高峰攀登时，实际上也在向着美的境界迈进。其中凝聚着对品质的执着、对创新的专注，以及将工匠精神内化为职业操守的意识。三是促进“人—产—城—文”协同发展。文化赋能制造业，不仅提升产品的文化价值和城市审美品质，更推动人的创造力、产业竞争力、城市功能布局与文化软实力的深度融合。要坚持以人民为中心的发展思想，让制造成为文化和情感的载体，从而推动工业文明不断焕发活力，迈向高质量发展新阶段。

(Both authors are specially appointed researchers at the Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era)

（作者均系广东省习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员）

Online editor: Chu Yang

网络编辑：初阳