In 2023, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping first proposed the concept of new quality productive forces during a local inspection tour. Since then, he has made important statements and arrangements regarding leveraging local conditions to develop new quality productive forces on a series of important occasions.
In Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, a chapter is dedicated to "New Quality Productive Forces for High-Quality Development." This chapter includes Xi’s speech at the 11th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, in which he emphasized new quality productive forces as “a primary driver of high-quality development.” In excerpts from Xi's speeches made between March and December 2024 on leveraging local conditions to develop new quality productive forces, he stressed that “we should focus on the primary goal of high-quality development and leverage local conditions to develop new quality productive forces.”
The fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee will be held in Beijing from October 20 to 23. It will review the opinions solicited from in and outside the CPC on the CPC Central Committee's proposals for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), drawing up a blueprint for China's development in the next five years, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
On April 30, when presiding over a symposium on China's economic and social development in the 15th Five-Year Plan period in Shanghai, Xi said higher strategic priority must be given to fostering new quality productive forces in line with local conditions in the next five years. Highlighting the roles of technological innovation and the real economy, he urged efforts to transform and upgrade traditional industries, develop emerging industries, and make forward-thinking arrangements for industries of the future, so as to accelerate modernization of the industrial system.
In the 14th installment of the special series "Decoding the Book of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," the Global Times (GT), along with People's Daily Overseas Edition, continues to invite Chinese and foreign scholars, translators of Xi's works, practitioners with firsthand experience and international readers to discuss the theme of "new quality productive forces for high-quality development" and deeply explore the important practical significance and value of this concept.
In the 13th installment of the "Practitioners' Insights" series, Global Times reporters visited the headquarters of Unitree Robotics in Hangzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province. The company’s sole elevator, which is designed to serve robots, underscores Unitree’s profound dedication to its products. Unitree and five other tech firms – Game Science, DeepSeek, DEEP Robotics, BrainCo, and Manycore Tech – have become well-known as “the six little dragons of Hangzhou,” offering new prime examples of China’s burgeoning technological prowess. Beyond its rich innovation foundation and forward-thinking policies, Hangzhou’s timely support for enterprises, especially startups, serves as a vivid example of developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions.
Two humanoid robots, clad in pink and green protective gear, are boxing in the ring, smoothly executing punches, kicks, and other maneuvers. A dense crowd of visitors encircled the booth, with close to a hundred people eagerly cheering on the robots. This vibrant scene unfolded at the 4th Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, where Unitree Robotics emerged as the center of attention.
Previously, Unitree’s robots had gained overnight fame for their performance alongside human dancers at the 2025 CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Unitree and five other tech firms – Game Science, DeepSeek, DEEP Robotics, BrainCo, and Manycore Tech – have become well-known among Chinese netizens as “the six little dragons of Hangzhou,” offering new prime examples of China’s burgeoning technological prowess.
Why Unitree? Why Hangzhou? And why China? With these questions in mind, Global Times reporters visited the headquarters of Unitree in the Binjiang District of Hangzhou. Inside the four-story office building, the company’s sole elevator – a freight elevator that seems out of sync with the image of a cutting-edge tech company – appears to offer some clues.
An elevator dedicated to robots
Is this really a robotics company, not a moving company? This was the Global Times reporters’ first impression of Unitree. Mechanical parts and foam packaging materials are piled up everywhere on the office floor and in the conference room. The elevator showed no trace of “technological sophistication” or “neatness,” with a significantly spacious interior and obvious drag marks from heavy boxes at the entrance.
“Our elevator is designed to serve robots,” explained Chen Xiyun, marketing manager of Unitree. He has grown accustomed to questions about the elevator. Chen noted that the company’s industrial-grade quadruped robots weigh dozens of kilograms and require additional modules like inspection equipment and robotic arms, making their dimensions exceed standard specifications. Since conventional passenger elevators cannot accommodate such weight and bulk, the company's only elevator was designed to be the size of a freight elevator.
The elevator actually underscores Unitree’s profound dedication to its products. And a poster inside the elevator, displaying “Unitree Vision: Advancing the world through technology; Unitree Mission: Building the world’s technology tree,” further highlights the broad vision of Chinese technology.
Unitree’s H1 humanoid robot, which made its stunning debut at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, is just one and a half years old, and the company itself was founded just about nine years ago. Currently, Unitree’s robots boast world-class high-power performance, with cutting-edge levels in speed, strength, maneuverability and flexibility.
“Over the past two years, whether in quadruped robots or humanoid robots, China’s development speed has far surpassed that of foreign countries,” Chen told the Global Times. Media reports showed that Unitree now holds a leading position in the global robotics field, with its quadruped robots accounting for more than 60 percent of the total in the global market.
However, such success was far from smooth sailing. Shortly after its founding in 2016, Unitree had already exhausted the funds from its first round of fundraising, and by 2018 the company was on the brink of a cashflow crisis. To Unitree founder Wang Xingxing’s surprise, Hangzhou extended vital support at this critical juncture. The government-guaranteed fund completed due diligence in just three days and disbursed 20 million yuan ($2.76 million) within seven days, helping the company overcome the urgent crisis.
In an interview with the People’s Daily, Wang said that Zhejiang has a very open and inclusive business environment. Noting that the development of tech companies is closely tied to young people who master emerging technologies, he said that “a city that attracts young people will certainly excel in the development of emerging industries.”
In recent years, Zhejiang has prioritized high-quality development, focused on reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force, and developed new quality productive forces according to local conditions, fostering a group of high-tech and innovative enterprises, represented by “the six little dragons of Hangzhou.” The rise of these six tech companies stems not only from the enterprises' own efforts, but also from China's strategic resolve in cultivating new quality productive forces and Zhejiang's vibrant innovation ecosystem.
Other members of “the six little dragons” have also benefitted from Hangzhou’s support. According to media reports, in 2018, a delegation from Hangzhou found BrainCo in a basement in Boston, the US. Recognizing the forward-looking potential of “brain-computer interface” technology, they brought the company to the banks of the Qiantang River.
When Feng Ji, founder of Game Science, first arrived in Yichuang town in Hangzhou’s Xihu District, he expressed his desire to “work on a long-term project, a very, very long one.” The town’s management committee assisted in finding office space, including providing Game Science with a three-year full rent exemption, according to media reports. Since then, Black Myth: Wukong, developed by the company, has taken the global gaming industry by storm.
‘Cultivating seeds over transplanting trees’
“Rather than simply transplanting large trees, the city prefers cultivating seeds,” a popular online comment read, describing the city’s business environment and innovation atmosphere, amid nationwide discussions about why “the six little dragons” emerged from Hangzhou.
As the capital of Zhejiang, Hangzhou took the lead in 2014 by pledging to develop the information economy and promote smart applications. In 2016, it became one of China’s first “digital economy” cities. In 2018, Hangzhou vowed to build itself into the nation’s leading city for the digital economy. In recent years, focusing on future industries, the city has deployed a series of forward-looking policy resources.
Hangzhou has announced a sci-tech investment policy, under which fiscal spending in science and technology will increase by more than 15 percent, over 15 percent of the city’s newly added financial resources will be allocated to science and technology, and 15 percent of industrial funds will be directed toward new quality productive forces.
Beyond its rich innovation foundation and forward-thinking policies, Hangzhou’s success rests on a principle of “always responsive, never intrusive.” When businesses need help, the government is “always responsive,” offering support and addressing their concerns – vital for enterprises, especially startups. When companies are focused on R&D and growth, the government’s “never intrusive” stance provides a different kind of service and a quiet strength. As Hangzhou's business support officials often say: "I'll provide the sunshine and rain, and you focus on growing strong and healthy."
Mi Qun, senior vice president of Hangzhou-based augmented reality technology provider Rokid, once said that cases like targeted support for enterprises often emerge from lunch meetings. This is because government officials understand that researchers, accustomed to late-night R&D, aren’t morning people, so they never schedule breakfast meetings. Lunch is kept simple – a boxed meal and a discussion lasts between 20 and 30 minutes, and there is no need for schmoozing. In Hangzhou, there are no endless inspections or nonstop symposiums; businesses can just focus on doing their work, according to media reports.
Without these meticulous, hands-on support services, critical funding support, and forward-looking strategic vision, these small and medium-sized enterprises might have faced a tough journey and may not have been able to "leap over the dragon gate." As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, and the second-best time is now. In Hangzhou, the saplings planted years ago are starting to bear fruit, while new seeds continue to be nurtured.
Beyond Hangzhou, other Chinese cities are also actively harnessing local strengths to drive the transformation of traditional industries and foster the growth of emerging industry clusters. Shenzhen, with tech giants like Huawei, Tencent and DJI, leverages its tech ecosystem and global reach to focus on AI chips and smart devices. Hefei, backed by resources from universities and research institutions such as the University of Science and Technology of China, advances quantum technology and new-energy battery development. Chongqing, building on its advantages as a manufacturing base and an inland transportation hub, targets intelligent connected vehicles and the industrial internet to upgrade its manufacturing sector.
In Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, President Xi stressed leveraging local conditions to develop new quality productive forces. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that “You need to selectively promote new industries, new business models, and new growth drivers and provide differentiated guidance, based on local resources, industrial foundations, and research capabilities. You should also leverage new technologies to transform and upgrade traditional industries, and push for their high-end, intelligent and green development.”
On September 29, the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau held a meeting. The meeting discussed major issues related to the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development. Xi chaired the meeting. It stressed the need to stay committed to high-quality development, foster new quality productive forces in line with local conditions, and comprehensively deepen reform while further expanding high-level opening-up, according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, in order to achieve high-quality development, the country has introduced a series of policies and measures to support innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting all key links of scientific and technological innovation from talent training, basic research investment to financing. According to a set of guidelines issued by seven authorities, including the Ministry of Science and Technology and the People’s Bank of China, China will increase its financial support for sci-tech innovation to improve the country’s self-reliance and strength in science and technology, including setting up the national venture capital guidance fund.
China will leverage the role of the national venture capital guidance fund, focus on the promotion of the growth of science and technology enterprises, cultivate and develop strategic emerging industries, especially future industries, promote the transformation of major scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces, accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, and cultivate and develop new quality productive forces, the document said.
The fund is expected to attract local government and private investment of nearly 1 trillion yuan, and will adopt a market-based approach to investing in start-ups and early-stage enterprises like Unitree.
“This is like an aircraft carrier,” Tian Xuan, president of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University, said of the fund’s significance for tech innovation. Thanks to the country’s relentless focus on innovation, “new surprises” are emerging across China from companies like Unitree and DeepSeek, Tian told the Global Times. This can also be seen in the cultural sector as well as technology, Tian noted, offering the example of top grossing Chinese animated film Nezha II.
Going forward, “it’s not just our robotics industry – in fields like artificial intelligence and chip manufacturing, we may have started a few years later, but as long as we set our minds to catching up, it’s only a matter of time. Sooner or later, we’ll catch up, and all of us are extremely confident about that,” Chen said.
Source: Global Times:
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