China's export-oriented manufacturing companies have been struggling to survive since the 2009 global financial crisis.
But the latest Purchasing Managers' Index in March shows that the country's manufacturing sector expanded for an eighth month in a row. So does it mean a total recovery for China's real economy?
"No, I don't think the real economy has completely walked out of the bottom," said Professor Liang Qi from the Business School of Sun Yat-sen University. "It just grew compared with seven months ago. Upgrading and transforming the manufacturing sector is still a long and painful process," she added.
Liang has been studying the real economy of Guangdong Province, the largest manufacturing base in China for many years.
According to her, there are three main reasons for the recent recovery, "the global economic recovery, the Chinese government's strong push for the real economy - including financial measures and policy support, such as supply-side reform and the Made in China 2025 blueprint - and the upgrading of the manufacturing sector."
Thirty-year-old Li Jing is one of the entrepreneurs who has benefited from this recovery.
She is the CEO of Golden Aluminum, a manufacturing company producing aluminium windows and doors in China's southern city of Foshan.
In 2009, she and her husband joined this firm founded by her parents-in-law. At the time, the global financial crisis had badly hit China's manufacturing companies, including Li's company which was still export-oriented.
Li said: "After 2009, my husband and I decided to focus more on the domestic market, building our own brand, hiring more talents, and investing in innovations."
Now their latest and most popular product is an aluminium window with wooden textures. Thanks to it, overseas demand has come back.
Li told CGTN: "This product is very popular in Southeast Asian countries because people there like using wooden furniture. This product can perfectly solve the problems of the humid weather and rampant termites in the region."
In the past few years, Li's company has enjoyed on average double-digit growth, becoming one of the largest aluminium construction material companies in the country. And a new factory is being built.
Liang noted that at this year's Two Sessions political meetings in Beijing, the government launched investment plans worth 40 trillion RMB (5.8 trillion US dollars). On Tuesday, five ministries including the People's Bank of China, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission also issued together a guideline to support the Made in China 2025 blueprint and manufacturing upgrading strategy with financial measures.
Liang said economic growth largely came from the confidence of entrepreneurs. Just like Li Jing of Golden Aluminum, entrepreneurs are regaining their confidence in the future.
