The Mingde Strategic Dialogue 2026, a high-level platform, initiated by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, was held in Xinyu, Jiangxi Province on October 8, under the theme “Tiangong Kaiwu: Connecting the World — A Dialogue on High-Quality Industrial Development in Xinyu.” Around 120 guests from the political, academic, business, cultural, and media circles in China and abroad gathered for the event. Through this dialogue, an inland industrial city once renowned for steel production presented a persuasive narrative of China’s industrial transformation.
A panel discussion on mutual learning among civilizations is held during the Mingde Strategic Dialogue 2026 on October 8, 2026.
From Steel City to Lithium Hub
Xinyu sits between the two provincial capitals of Nanchang and Changsha — half an hour by high-speed rail from Nanchang and one hour from Changsha. This small, scenic city is not only where the 17th century scientific masterpiece Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature) was written, but also once functioned as the largest steel production base in Jiangxi. Today, it has risen to become one of the world’s largest lithium salt production bases and ranks among China’s top 100 cities in innovation capacity.
The transformation was far from a smooth journey. The city's silicon steel sector, hailed as the jewel in the crown of the steel industry, had long depended on imports. After six years of technological research, the R&D team at Xinyu Iron & Steel finally rolled out high-end steel merely 0.08 millimeters thick — as thin as paper and tearable by bare hands — with its ultra-thin wide-strip production technology now leading the world.
A delegation of foreign visitors listen to an introduction on the uses of “hand-tearable steel” in everyday products at Xinyu Iron & Steel.
Even greater change has taken place in the lithium battery sector. Ganfeng Lithium has grown from an obscure township enterprise into the world’s largest producer of lithium metal. In its wake, Xinyu has brought together 79 upstream and downstream lithium battery companies, completing a full industrial chain spanning lithium ore mining and dressing, lithium salt production, battery manufacturing, echelon utilization and recycling. Today, one out of every six new-energy vehicles in China runs on a battery whose lithium salt comes from Xinyu.
Outside the Ganfeng Lithium exhibition hall, Glenn Diesen, professor of international relations at the University of South-Eastern Norway, and Halil Tagma, professor of politics and international affairs at Northern Arizona University, showed keen interest in a magnetic power bank — a phone simply snaps onto it to start charging.
In an interview with China Today, Tagma said this was his first visit to China and that seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. Pointing to his electronic watch, he said, “These all use lithium batteries, as do new-energy vehicles and electric robots…” These everyday details became a window through which the visitors observed China’s new energy industrial chain.
Glenn Diesen, professor of international relations at the University of South-Eastern Norway, tries using a magnetic power bank to charge his cellphone.
Connecting the World Through Culture
The most moving part of the dialogue was not the data, but a civilizational resonance spanning centuries. Xinyu is where Tiangong Kaiwu was written. This technological masterpiece was hailed by the British scholar Joseph Needham as “the encyclopedia of Chinese 17th-century technology.” Since its publication, the book has been translated into many languages and released in more than 20 editions worldwide, profoundly influencing craft development and scientific understanding in East Asia and even Europe.
Tiangong Kaiwu's author, Song Yingxing, advocated “taking from nature in due season and using it with moderation,” conveying the ancient wisdom of harmony between humanity and nature — a philosophy that is precisely the philosophical foundation of Xinyu’s industrial transformation today.
The dance drama Tiangong Kaiwu is performed at the Fenyi County cultural center in Xinyu City.
The “Xinyu Inspiration” Through Foreign Eyes
During the dialogue, a number of international guests interpreted the Xinyu experience from their own perspectives. Former Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome said in his address that technological progress should drive high-quality development, and that open, win-win global industrial and supply chains should be built. “We must reject zero-sum games and adhere to a people-centered approach,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vijay Prashad, executive director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research in the United States, observed that the infrastructure in Xinyu’s towns and villages is better than that in some neighborhoods of London and looks newer than that of Chicago — something he attributed to the country's long-term planning capacity at the national level. He also cited research indicating that net national investment correlates more strongly with GDP growth than foreign direct investment, a finding especially instructive for Global South countries burdened by debt.
Former Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome (first right) visits Ganfeng Lithium on October 8, 2026. (Photos by Zhou Lin)
Former British MP George Galloway drew a comparison with his hometown of Glasgow, a city that once led the Industrial Revolution but has lagged behind in modern-day development. While Xinyu, thousands of miles away, has completed the transition from traditional steelmaking to green, intelligent manufacturing. He remarked, “Leveraging natural endowments to improve people’s well-being fully demonstrates the power of institutional planning.”
Xinyu’s story is a microcosm of China’s high-quality development: driving industrial transformation through scientific and technological innovation, laying the foundation for growth through green transition, and connecting with the world through opening-up. The city is proving to the world that a traditional industrial city can, through mutual learning among civilizations and green transition, forge a development path that combines cultural heritage with innovative vitality.
