Show HN: An atlas of China's manufacturing geography

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China Industry Atlas — One City, One Industry

China Industry Atlas — the 40-page field guide (PDF)Get it · €19.99 →

Field reference · 2026 edition

One city,<br>one industry.一城一业

China does not manufacture everywhere. It manufactures somewhere specific . Each city — often each town — owns a category and the entire supply chain behind it. This atlas maps where, market by market.

Cities mapped

Specialist towns

Mega-regions

Pick an industry below to open its where-it's-made map

Cluster map · 中国

01The maps

Companion maps that go beyond the national overview, in four families — by area, by industry & trade, by theme, and the long-form deep dives. Each opens in its own page.

Geographyby area — region to province to city

Mega-regions

↗Pearl River Delta珠三角<br>30 clusters · 9 cities

↗Yangtze River Delta长三角<br>32 clusters · 15 cities

↗Bohai Rim环渤海<br>27 clusters · 20 cities

Province deep-dives

↗Guangdong广东<br>32 clusters · 21 prefectures

↗Shandong山东<br>26 clusters · 16 prefectures

↗Jiangsu江苏<br>27 clusters · 13 prefectures

↗Zhejiang浙江<br>30 clusters · 11 prefectures

↗Fujian福建<br>21 clusters · 9 prefectures

Cities

↗Shenzhen, 1980→today深圳 · 经济特区<br>how it grew & what it made, decade by decade

↗Shanghai, treaty port→today上海 · 浦东<br>from the Bund to Pudong: a century of reinvention

Industry & tradewhere it's made, traded & shipped

By industry — where it's made

↗Consumer electronics消费电子<br>8 clusters · 4 segments

↗Components, PCB & ICs元器件<br>8 clusters · 4 segments

↗Lighting & LED照明<br>4 clusters · 2 segments

↗Apparel & fashion服装<br>6 clusters · 5 segments

↗Fabric & textiles面料纺织<br>7 clusters · 4 segments

↗Footwear鞋业<br>7 clusters · 4 segments

↗Furniture & home家具<br>5 clusters · 4 segments

↗Home appliances家电<br>6 clusters · 3 segments

↗Toys & gifts玩具礼品<br>5 clusters · 3 segments

↗Small commodities小商品<br>5 clusters · 3 segments

↗Auto & motorcycle汽车摩托<br>9 clusters · 3 segments

↗Molds & plastics模具塑料<br>4 clusters · 3 segments

↗Hardware & tools五金工具<br>7 clusters · 5 segments

↗Lithium batteries锂电池<br>7 clusters · 3 segments

↗Semiconductors半导体<br>8 clusters · 5 segments

↗New-energy vehicles新能源车<br>9 clusters · 2 segments

↗Solar & green energy光伏新能源<br>8 clusters · 3 segments

↗Construction & heavy machinery工程机械<br>4 clusters · 3 segments

↗Beauty & personal care美妆个护<br>5 clusters · 4 segments

↗Ceramics & sanitaryware陶瓷卫浴<br>6 clusters · 4 segments

Markets & buildings

↗Guangzhou markets广州<br>20 wholesale markets

↗Huaqiangbei华强北<br>16 electronics buildings

↗Yiwu义乌<br>6 market districts

Ports

↗Shanghai上海港<br>the container king · world #1, 51.5M TEU

↗Ningbo-Zhoushan宁波舟山港<br>the tonnage king · heaviest port on Earth

↗Shenzhen深圳港<br>the electronics gateway · phones & drones to the US

↗Qingdao青岛港<br>the northern automated port · ore in, brands out

Themesthematic ways to read the map

↗One-product towns一镇一品<br>26 towns · what each makes for the world

↗Getting it out出口与物流<br>7 gateway ports · corridors · transit times

↗Manufacturing in motion产业转移<br>is the factory floor leaving China?

↗Where it starts上游原料<br>21 upstream sources · raw materials

↗Cathedrals of manufacturing制造业殿堂<br>19 megasites · the category leaders

↗Frontier industries未来产业<br>21 emerging bets · the atlas-obscura layer

↗The power frontier西部能源<br>17 western sites · cheap power, empty land

↗The great corridors西电东送 · 南水北调<br>power west→east, water south→north

↗High-speed rail八纵八横 · 高铁<br>the people layer · and the inland shift

Deep diveslong-form — one subject at a time

Town deep-dives

↗Zheng’an正安 · 吉他之乡<br>the guitar county · ~1 in 7 made worldwide

↗Songxia崧厦 · 中国伞城<br>the umbrella town · ~1/3 of the world’s

↗Foshan佛山 · 制造名城<br>the city of 41 one-industry towns

↗Dafen大芬 · 油画村<br>the painting village · ~⅔ of the world’s oils

↗Huaqiangbei华强北 · 电子第一街<br>the market that makes everything · the Chaozhou floor

↗Kunshan昆山 · 小台北<br>the borrowed boat · ⅓ of the world’s laptops

↗Datang大唐 · 世界袜都<br>the sock capital · ~1/3 of the world’s pairs

↗Yiwu义乌 · 小商品之都<br>the world’s market · ~60% of its Christmas

↗Hainan海南 · 自由贸易港<br>a forward look · China’s whole-island free trade port

↗Guzhen古镇 · 中国灯饰之都<br>the lighting capital · ~70% of China’s, half the world’s<br>↗Shaodong邵东 · 打火机之都<br>the lighter capital · ~70% of the world’s lighters, ~¥1 each<br>↗Qiaotou桥头 · 纽扣之都<br>the button capital · ~60% of the world’s buttons, ~80% of its zippers<br>↗Shengzhou嵊州 · 领带之乡<br>the necktie capital · ~60% of the world’s ties, once Italy’s silk supplier<br>↗Danyang丹阳 · 眼镜之都<br>the lens capital · ~half the world’s spectacle lenses<br>↗Liuyang浏阳 · 花炮之乡<br>the fireworks capital · ~1 in 3 of the world’s fireworks, invented here<br>↗Yongkang永康 · 五金之都<br>the hardware capital · most of China’s cups, doors, scooters & tools<br>↗Yixing宜兴 · 紫砂之都<br>the purple-clay town · the world’s most coveted teapots, from one rare clay<br>↗Jingdezhen景德镇 · 瓷都<br>the porcelain capital · a thousand years of imperial porcelain — and the name “china”<br>↗Zhangqiu章丘 · 铁锅<br>the iron-wok town · 36,000 hammer blows, made famous overnight by TV<br>↗Zhengzhou郑州 · iPhone City<br>iPhone City · one Foxconn megacampus assembles half the world’s iPhones<br>↗Huizhou惠州 · 电子<br>the quiet electronics giant...

clusters segments world china industry capital

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