Transformation and Upgrading of China’s Manufacturing Sectors: The Divergent Paths of Jinjiang’s and Putian’s Footwear Industries

Visiting Scholar Talks

Apr 13, 2022 | 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM

Event Registration

Speaker

Zheng Lu | Associate Professor, Tsinghua University, HYI Visiting Scholar, 2021-2022

Chair/Discussant

Frank Dobbin | Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University

Held via Zoom – registration required: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAucuCrrjIrGdSH7bY1muKmm7zFh9BeLvir

Jinjiang and Putian are two prosperous industrial powerhouses in Fujian province in China with footwear industry being a pillar industry in both cities. While Jinjiang is known as the “the Footwear Capital of China” with domestic brands like Anta featured prominently in Olympic games, Putian is internationally known as “the Capital of Footwear Knockoffs”. Built on a multifaceted framework of globalization, institutions, and path dependence, this talk examines the processes and reasons why the footwear industries of the two cities have taken such divergent paths. Implications of this case study for the evolution of China’s manufacturing industries will be discussed.