The "15th Five Year Plan" proposes to include "maintaining a reasonable proportion of manufacturing industry" in the national five-year plan, which further highlights the strategic position of manufacturing industry. The manufacturing industry is the lifeline of China's economy, the foundation of building a country and a strong nation. The proportion of manufacturing industry is an important indicator reflecting the economic structure, and the change in the proportion of manufacturing industry is the main change in the industrialization process. From an international perspective, the proportion of manufacturing industry has a regularity of changing with the industrialization stage, but the change curve of the proportion of manufacturing industry in each country is different. The peak value that the proportion of manufacturing industry in different countries can reach, the time to maintain a high proportion, the speed and magnitude of proportion decline, and the level of proportion that tends to stabilize are all different. Countries that have completed industrialization have established large and high-quality manufacturing systems, which provide material conditions for their own production and development, as well as support for international economic and trade cooperation. Even after completing the industrialization process, some countries still maintain a high proportion of manufacturing industry, and the stability of their economic development, resilience to various risks and shocks, and competitiveness in international trade remain at a strong level. On the other hand, countries with a significant decline in the proportion of manufacturing, especially those that have experienced severe deindustrialization, face structural problems caused by imbalanced manufacturing development, whether it is domestic economic development, supply and demand cycles, or participation in international division of labor cooperation and response to external risks and challenges. In recent years, due to the accelerated emergence of a series of problems caused by the decline in the proportion of manufacturing industry, major countries around the world have attached great importance to the development of manufacturing industry strategically, and some countries have intensified their efforts to promote the process of re industrialization and put forward clear goals to increase the proportion of manufacturing industry. This also indicates that the change in the proportion of manufacturing is of great significance and is not entirely a spontaneous behavior of the market, but rather an active adjustment by governments of various countries based on their development strategies. At present, the proportion of China's manufacturing industry is still at a relatively high level globally, but we need to be vigilant and prevent the risks and challenges brought by the premature and rapid decline of the proportion of manufacturing industry. China's industrialization started relatively late, but its development speed is fast and its achievements are outstanding. In the past few decades, it has achieved remarkable industrialization results, especially the rapid development of manufacturing, which has injected strong momentum into economic construction, social development, and open cooperation. In 2024, the overall scale of China's manufacturing industry has remained the world's largest for 15 consecutive years, accounting for about 24.9% of GDP. Among the 31 major manufacturing industries, there are 3 key industries with revenue exceeding 10 trillion yuan, 6 with revenue exceeding 5 trillion yuan, and 16 with revenue exceeding 1 trillion yuan. Relying on a complete, high-quality, and efficient manufacturing system, China's economic development maintains strong resilience and vitality. Its position as a global manufacturing center continues to consolidate, and the driving force and influence of international supply chain hubs continue to increase, effectively responding to international economic and trade frictions and external uncertainties. In recent years, due to factors such as changes in comparative advantage, changes in production costs, upgrading of demand structure, and adjustments in export patterns, the growth rate of some manufacturing sectors has slowed down, and the proportion of manufacturing in the national economy has shown some downward changes. The proportion of manufacturing industry decreases with the change of industrialization stage, but China is still in the process of new industrialization. The development of manufacturing industry is unbalanced and insufficient, and the problems of "large but not strong" and "comprehensive but not excellent" are still prominent. The space and potential for deep transformation and upgrading of industries and promoting high-quality development are still huge. Maintaining a reasonable proportion of manufacturing industry is still the top priority in promoting new industrialization. Maintaining a reasonable proportion of manufacturing industry means that only by achieving sustained high-quality development of manufacturing industry can we build a material and technological foundation for modernization construction. All aspects of modernization construction are closely related to the development of manufacturing industry. Especially in the industrial sector dominated by manufacturing, it is an "escalator" that drives economic growth and productivity improvement. The production efficiency of the manufacturing industry is improving rapidly, and the growth of new quality productivity is accelerating. The large-scale development of the manufacturing industry can drive the full convergence and efficient allocation of advanced production factors to the manufacturing industry, thereby promoting the improvement of productivity and maintaining a high level of economic growth in the whole society. In the construction of a modern industrial system, the backbone position of advanced manufacturing industry is more prominent, providing power and traction for productive service industries, consumer goods sources for life service industries, and technical and equipment support for agricultural modernization. The construction of a technological powerhouse also relies on the development of the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing itself is an important soil for technological innovation, and many major technological innovations also need to be promoted and applied in the manufacturing scene. Due to the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation becoming a development trend, there will be structural shortcomings and weaknesses in innovative development without a complete advanced manufacturing system. The enormous manufacturing capacity is also a prerequisite for promoting high-quality and full employment. Both labor-intensive traditional industries and high-tech industries with concentrated human capital are important channels for promoting employment growth. High level open cooperation is also inseparable from the development of the manufacturing industry. International cooperation in the industrial chain and supply chain, with manufacturing as the main body, is itself the most important area of international economic and trade cooperation. It is through advanced manufacturing technology, high-quality manufacturing products, and excellent manufacturing brands that China's areas of opening up to the outside world continue to expand and the level of cooperation continues to deepen. It should be emphasized that the change in the proportion of manufacturing industry is a dynamic process, and there is a range to maintain a reasonable proportion of manufacturing industry. That is to say, the proportion of manufacturing industry should maintain a relatively stable state of change, rather than declining too quickly or falling too low. Maintaining a reasonable proportion of the manufacturing industry is essential to comprehensively promote the construction of Chinese path to modernization. It is a strategic deployment based on China's development stage and modernization. From the perspective of the entire economic system, the development of manufacturing represents a country's technological innovation, product development, and production organization capabilities in material processing, as well as the supporting system of labor, finance, facilities, and other factors that are compatible with the level of material processing. The scale and proportion of manufacturing industry not only reflect the output value or added value of manufacturing industry, but also affect and even determine the material and technological foundation conditions for a country's development. The key to maintaining a reasonable proportion of manufacturing industry is to ensure that the growth rate of manufacturing industry is in line with the stage of China's economic development, the scale and size are in line with the foundation of the real economy, and the structural level is in line with the backbone position of the industrial system, so that manufacturing industry always maintains strong growth driving force, solid strategic support, and strong safety resilience level. In practical development, it is important to maintain the rationality of the manufacturing industry, adhere to the direction of intelligent, green, and integrated development, establish and improve the investment growth mechanism, promote the deep transformation and upgrading of the industry, cultivate and develop new quality productivity, and achieve effective improvement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity. (Xinhua News Agency) Author: Xu Jianwei (Director of the Industrial Department of the Institute of Industrial Economics and Technological Economics, China Macro Economic Research Institute)