The Beauty of Manufacturing, Alluring Force!
On January 8, the 2025 Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Cooperation and Exchange Conference, themed "The Beauty of Manufacturing, Universal Printing Power," was grandly held. At the meeting, the Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Aesthetics Alliance was officially established, promoting the concept of "printing across multiple industries" to support the construction of a "City of Manufacturing Aesthetics."
Leaders from relevant departments, representatives from printing associations of various cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, representatives from key Dongguan industry associations (such as trendy toys, toys, and apparel), representatives of large printing enterprises, industry experts, and university representatives-over 400 people in total-gathered together to collectively envision the blueprint for the construction of a "City of Manufacturing Aesthetics."
Dongguan and Hong Kong printing industries join hands to support the construction of a "City of Manufacturing Aesthetics."
The Dongguan Municipal Party Committee plenary session proposed the city's development strategic goal of 'Intelligent Innovation for Quality Products, Harmonious and Beautiful Livable City,' and suggested implementing the 'Nine Major Actions' framework centered on 'Three Major Guidance, Three Major Enhancements, and Three Major Constructions,' charting a clear path for Dongguan at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan.
This session of the Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Exchange Conference, themed 'The Beauty of Manufacturing, Universal Printing Power,' focuses on 'the beauty of printing,' aiming to further cultivate fertile ground for cooperative development of the printing industry between Dongguan and Hong Kong, unleash the momentum of dual-city collaborative development, contribute wisdom and strength to Dongguan's construction as a 'City of Manufacturing Aesthetics,' and inject new momentum into the city's strategic development goal of 'Intelligent Innovation for Quality Products, Harmonious and Beautiful Livable City.'
Cai Guokang, Deputy Director of the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department and Director of the Municipal Press and Publication Bureau, stated that the printing industry, as a key cultural industry in Dongguan, is an important support for the high-quality development of Dongguan's manufacturing sector. The Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Cooperation and Exchange Conference reflects the printing industry's commitment to the practical needs of the industry and actively interprets the concept of 'manufacturing aesthetics.' It is also a vivid example of how industries in both regions are driven by 'aesthetics' to promote industrial transformation and build new quality productivity. The printing industries in both regions are bound to further release momentum, stimulate potential, and continuously advance the development of the printing industry to new heights.
It is reported that by the end of 2024, Dongguan will have 3,474 printing enterprises, achieving a total industrial output value of 80.002 billion yuan. There are 298 enterprises with an annual output value of over 50 million yuan, and 155 enterprises with output values exceeding 100 million yuan. Overall, Dongguan's printing industry shows a steady and progressive development trend, with quality improving alongside growth. The industry leads all prefecture-level cities in China in terms of industrial scale, foreign trade exports, and research and development investment, and both the number and output value proportion of large-scale enterprises have significantly increased.
Fu Weizhong, President of the Hong Kong Publishing, Printing, and Recording Industry Association and Chairman of Hong Kong United Publishing (Group) Co., Ltd., stated that looking ahead to the '15th Five-Year Plan' period, in order to elevate cultural industry cooperation between Dongguan and Hong Kong to a higher level, they will jointly build an integrated 'printing and cultural creativity' ecosystem, promoting the deep integration of advanced printing technology and green packaging solutions with industries such as trendy toys, clothing, furniture, and food; jointly establish an 'content-design-printing' integrated chain, leveraging Hong Kong's content creation, copyright management, and design resources in combination with Dongguan's precision manufacturing and printing capabilities, to construct a complete industry chain from concept to implementation; expand new pathways for 'cultural printing going global' by utilizing Hong Kong's international network and trade platforms to help cultural printing products, packaging design, and printing services developed through Dongguan-Hong Kong cooperation enter the international market; and jointly create standards and models for 'green and digital cultural printing,' collaborating on research and application in areas such as environmentally friendly materials, energy-saving processes, digital printing, and AI-powered content generation, thereby leading the sustainable development of the cultural industry.
Yin Zhiqi, President of the Dongguan Publishing and Printing Industry Association, stated that under the guidance of 'Manufacturing Aesthetic City,' cooperation between the Dongguan and Hong Kong printing industries is standing at a new starting point. The Dongguan printing industry will focus on the innovation chain, industrial chain, and value chain to promote the development of the Dongguan-Hong Kong printing industry to a new stage.
It is reported that the Dongguan printing industry will strengthen collaboration in production, education, and research between Dongguan and Hong Kong, focusing on the research and application of new technologies and processes such as green printing, intelligent printing, and digital printing. It will encourage design innovation, further precisely enabling Hong Kong's design capabilities to empower Dongguan's manufacturing capabilities, and promote deeper integration of upstream and downstream enterprises across both regions. By fully leveraging Hong Kong's platform advantages as an international financial and trade center, it will help Dongguan build a 'Manufacturing Aesthetic' city and achieve co-creation and shared value.
Fung Man-ching, President of the Hong Kong Printing Industry Association, stated that Dongguan is an important city for manufacturing in China, with many Hong Kong printing companies having factories there, while many Hong Kong designs are internationally renowned. The Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Cooperation and Exchange Conference, themed 'Aesthetics in Manufacturing,' is timely, and it is hoped that Dongguan and Hong Kong can work together to deeply integrate culture with the manufacturing industry.
'Printing and multiple industries'
The Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Aesthetic Alliance has been officially established.
Hong Kong's international perspective is closely linked and deeply integrated with Dongguan's comprehensive industrial chain, precisely connecting and resonating "Hong Kong design" with "Dongguan manufacturing." The Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Cooperation and Exchange Conference has been held for three consecutive sessions. It has achieved a series of phased results in areas such as cutting-edge technology applications, undertaking international orders, joint group visits, CTV standard implementation, regular exchanges and mutual visits, corporate management innovation, and talent training and introduction.
To support Dongguan's construction as a "City of Manufacturing Aesthetics," the Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Aesthetics Alliance was officially established at this year's cooperation and exchange conference.
Fu Weizhong stated that the establishment of the Dongguan-Hong Kong Printing Industry Aesthetics Alliance is a pragmatic measure for the collaborative development of the cultural industries in both regions. He hopes that the alliance can become an important platform for gathering creativity, connecting industries, setting standards, and expanding markets, working together to deepen and solidify the cooperation of the cultural industries between Dongguan and Hong Kong, and jointly contributing to the cultural prosperity and industrial upgrading of the Greater Bay Area.
The composition of the alliance members clearly reflects its core goal-to promote the deep integration of the Dongguan-Hong Kong printing industry with Dongguan's manufacturing industry in the field of aesthetics.
The alliance not only includes the Hong Kong Printing Industry Association and the Dongguan Publishing and Printing Industry Association, but also incorporates several key local industry associations in Dongguan, such as those for trendy toys, toys, apparel, food, electronics, furniture, and tea. This means that the alliance is not limited to circulation within the printing industry but uses printing as a link to connect Dongguan's most representative consumer and manufacturing industries. It aims to inject the aesthetic value of "Hong Kong design" and "Dongguan manufacturing" into end products such as trendy toys, food, and electronics through cross-industry collaboration, achieving a true leap from single printing services to full industrial chain aesthetic empowerment.
Rao Yixiang, president of the Dongguan Food Industry Association, stated that currently, Dongguan's food industry is moving towards higher quality and stronger branding, with a growing demand for personalized, environmentally friendly, and high-end packaging.
He looks forward to seeing more new printing technologies and solutions applicable to the food sector, such as biodegradable packaging printing, functional packaging suitable for various scenarios, and smart traceability labels, all contributing to the development towards greener, digital, and smarter directions.
Vice President He Xiao-zhen of the Dongguan Electronics Industry Association stated that the aesthetic evolution of the electronics industry relies on the coordinated progress of all links in the industry chain. As an important medium for information transmission and visual presentation, the printing industry plays an indispensable role in realizing the aesthetic value of electronic products.
"We look forward to the printing industry accelerating the digital and intelligent transformation to meet the high-precision and personalized printing needs of emerging fields such as flexible electronics and wearable devices, actively promoting environmentally friendly materials like UV inks, moving in sync with the electronics industry's green manufacturing concepts, further enhancing the ability to integrate culture and design, and assisting electronics companies in transforming traditional cultural elements and brand concepts into perceptible product aesthetics."
On-site, the Hong Kong Printers Association, Dongguan Publishing and Printing Industry Association, and Dongguan University of Technology signed a cooperation agreement on Guangdong-Hong Kong printing and design industry-academia-research collaboration.
In the future, the three parties will leverage their respective development advantages, gather academic wisdom, and cultivate design talents to empower printing through aesthetics, achieve deep integration of industry, academia, and research, and enable printing products to carry more cultural connotations and aesthetic value. This will elevate "Made in Dongguan" to a "Manufacturing Aesthetic," injecting fresh vitality into the design of printing products in both Dongguan and Hong Kong.
Industry jointly explores the "Beauty of Printing"
During the special sharing session, attendees engaged in in-depth exchanges on the technical essence and industry practices of the "Beauty of Printing," injecting new momentum into the construction of a "City of Manufacturing Aesthetics."
Director Peng Anqi from the Hong Kong Printing Technology Research Centre delivered a keynote speech titled 'Exploring Wide Color Gamut Printing: Enhancing the Charm of Printed Colors,' revealing how wide color gamut technology can accurately capture and reproduce every shade of color, allowing attendees to gain a deeper understanding that cutting-edge technology is one of the key drivers in achieving the 'beauty of printing.'
Li Weiqiang, Executive Vice President of the Hong Kong Printing Industry Investment Association, gave a keynote presentation titled 'Using Competitions as a Medium to Connect the Greater Bay Area - The Fourth Printing Technology and Creative Ability Competition and the Collaborative Development Opportunities with "Dongguan Manufacturing Aesthetics".' He introduced the details of the competition, explored how the printing industry can empower the upgrade of 'Dongguan Manufacturing Aesthetics,' and presented practical solutions and opportunities for collaboration.
Li Xin, Co-founder and CEO of Xiaoxiang Zhihé, delivered an industry presentation titled "From 'Manufacturing' to 'Intelligent Manufacturing': How AI Reshapes Profit Margins in Printing and Packaging Enterprises." The talk focused on Xiaoxiang Zhihé's practices in the field of AI-driven personalized customization, introducing its core positioning, development history, business model, and service cases, demonstrating the practical ways AI is transforming profit margins in the printing and packaging industry.
In the afternoon, participants also visited two benchmark companies, Guangdong Wangying Environmental Packaging Co., Ltd. and Dongguan Jingli Can Manufacturing Co., Ltd., to get a firsthand experience of the craftsmanship and quality of Dongguan's "beauty of printing" on the production line, further deepening their practical understanding of the 'aesthetics of manufacturing.'
