Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and three other ministries jointly issued the "Work Plan for Stable Growth of Light Industry (2025-2026)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The Plan focuses on "resolving the structural contradictions between consumption and supply, enhancing the adaptability of supply and demand", comprehensively grasping the four pairs of relationships between traditional and emerging, domestic and external demand, supply and demand, and development and transformation, and clearly outlining the development goals and action routes of China's light industry in the next two years. Light industry is an important industry for the national economy and people's livelihood. It is a traditional advantageous industry and an important livelihood industry for China's national economy. It is also a golden business card for Chinese manufacturing to enter the world stage. In recent years, the development trend of China's light industry has been good. By 2024, the number of light industry enterprises will reach 136600, an increase of 25.7% compared to 2020; The retail sales of key products in light industry reached 7.93 trillion yuan, accounting for 16.2% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in society, becoming an important force in expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption. In terms of exports, in 2024, the total export value of light industry enterprises reached 925.4 billion US dollars, accounting for over 25.9% of the country's total export value, ranking first in the country for five consecutive years and making important contributions to stabilizing foreign trade and growth. At the same time, it should be noted that the development of China's light industry still faces challenges of oversupply in traditional industries and insufficient supply in emerging fields, as well as the coexistence of external demand dependence and insufficient release of domestic demand potential. For example, in 2024, the added value of young industries accounts for 15.4% of all industries, with the proportion of emerging industries still relatively low. In response to this, the 'Plan' systematically plans for the coordinated development of basic infrastructure and new growth points, proposing the combination of 'stock optimization' and 'incremental innovation' to promote resonance between supply structure and consumption upgrading. In addition, while promoting the optimization of trade structure, developing new models of foreign trade, and driving brands to go global, the "Plan" also focuses on strengthening enterprise stability and assistance, promoting rational industrial layout, promoting industrial chain coordination, stabilizing domestic and foreign markets, and maintaining long-term market momentum for stable growth of light industry. How to make the supply side more fully responsive to the structural upgrading of the demand side? The Plan adheres to a systematic thinking approach, taking into account both supply and demand sides. It uses a combination of short-term flexible production response, mid-term technological innovation, and long-term quality branding to open up new space on the supply side. Through the docking of supply and demand platforms and the implementation of measures such as "artificial intelligence+consumption", potential demand is expanded, highlighting the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and the collaborative governance of multiple entities. This avoids short-term behaviors that simply stimulate demand and prevents ineffective supply that is detached from the market. To more effectively address the structural contradictions in the development of light industry, the 'Plan' is based on the current implementation of the 'trade in' policy and promotes the sustained release of consumer demand; Simultaneously focusing on the long-term implementation of digital and green transformation and upgrading, realizing the transformation of development momentum, and enhancing resilience. By balancing both length and duration, it avoids the practice of treating the head for headaches and the feet for feet. How to promote the upgrading and stable growth of light industry? There are four main lines running through the 'Plan', namely innovation driven, standard led, brand empowerment, and digital green transformation, which should also be the core focus of our next efforts. Innovation driven is the key to activating new quality productivity in light industry and achieving high-quality development. Innovation driven by technological innovation as the engine, product innovation as the foundation, business model innovation as the carrier, institutional innovation as the guarantee, activating new quality productivity, and systematically resolving structural contradictions. For some time now, emerging industries such as smart home appliances and biomanufacturing have accelerated their growth, and many high-tech products have gained market recognition, which is a manifestation of innovation driving force. Standard guidance is the key to strengthening market trust and forcing quality upgrades. In recent years, China has accelerated the construction of a new standard system, promoted mutual recognition of international standards, and forced quality improvement through the implementation of the standard "leader" system. In the process of restructuring production models from scale to agility, many enterprises have already taken the lead in upgrading with standards. For example, intelligent home appliance companies have led the development of international standards for large-scale personalized customization, promoting the replication and promotion of intelligent home appliance large-scale personalized customization models in multiple countries. Brand empowerment is the key to breaking through the dilemma of "internal competition" and low-end lock-in. Transforming "price competition" into "value competition" and achieving "product going global" to "brand going global" is an inevitable choice for enterprises. China's trendy game industry is a vivid example of this development trend. In just a few years, China Chaoplay has risen strongly, and the original culture IP has taken turns to "go out of the circle". The average annual growth rate of the market size has exceeded 30%, and now it has entered the 100 billion yuan scale. According to market reports, as of 2024, the retail sales of brand authorized goods in China reached 155.09 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%. The digital and green transformation is the key to reconstructing the industrial ecosystem and cultivating sustainable momentum. Digitization can greatly enhance production flexibility, truly achieving the goal of "providing what is needed and adapting to what is needed", and responding to resource and environmental constraints in a green way, which is the only way to achieve sustainable industrial development. The data shows that there are 23 "beacon factories" in the light industry world, the industrial Internet platform coverage rate exceeds 60%, and 1321 national green factories. The light industry transformation has made significant progress. I believe that with the implementation of the relevant deployment and detailed rules of the "Plan", China's light industry will unleash greater development vitality and potential, play a more important role in stabilizing growth, promoting consumption, and benefiting people's livelihoods, and provide more experience and reference for promoting the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry. (Xinhua News Agency) Article | Zhu Hongzhang, Professor at the School of Economics and Business Administration, Heilongjiang University