China, well-known as the “world factory”, has accounted for 35% of the manufacturing output worldwide, in accordance with a recent McKinsey report. Over the years, China has been the go-to destination for labour-intensive, semi-skilled manufacturing, with superior strengths like abundant land supplies, lax industrial regulations and the unmatched connectivity linking the 1.4 billion domestic market with the rest of the world. In 2020, the burst of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a massive upheaval to global economies, giving rise to nation-wide shutdowns of factories in China and subsequent global supply chain dysfunctions. In view of the inauspicious start of 2020, China demonstrated its resilience and agility, working tirelessly to bring the COVID-19 cases and deaths to a very low level. As the economy had quickly recovered from the coronavirus plunge, China’s manufacturing activities continued to extend its strong growth and achieved a faster-than-expected rise of industri