Hu Ying: An Analysis of the Subjects of Developing New Quality Productive Forces
“New quality productive forces are advanced productive forces birthed by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. Their basic connotation is the qualitative leap in laborers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimal combination, with the improvement of total factor productivity as the core indicator.” The development of new quality productive forces is a manifestation of human social practice. In practical activity, the “subject” refers to the person who possesses the capacity for cognition and practice regarding the “object,” and who engages in actual social practical activities. The subject is the autonomous and proactive factor in practical activity, tasked with setting practical goals, operating the media of practice, and transforming the objects of practice. Human subjectivity is the capability and role manifested by people during the process of practice. The capacities of the practical subject include both natural and spiritual capacities. Spiritual capacity further includes cognitive (knowledge-based) and non-cognitive factors. Cognitive factors are primary, encompassing both the mastery of theoretical knowledge and empirical knowledge. Non-cognitive factors mainly refer to elements of emotion and will. From the perspective of the practical subject, the development of new quality productive forces primarily emphasizes the collective subject [1], specifically covering: R&D and production application personnel who facilitate the fulfillment of technological conditions; consumers, practitioners, and business entities across various industries who facilitate the fulfillment of industrial conditions; and government agencies that facilitate the fulfillment of institutional conditions.
I. The Logic and Subjects of Developing New Quality Productive Forces
Productive forces are the material forces formed by humanity in productive practice to transform and influence nature to suit social needs. They possess objective reality and socio-historical character. Their basic elements include the means of labor, the objects of labor, and laborers. Among these, the means and objects of labor are the material factors within the system of productive forces, while the laborers are the human factor. In the social practice of developing new quality productive forces, the practical subject is the person who drives their development, while the productive forces themselves constitute the object of practice. The relationship between the practical subject and the practical object is one of transformation and being transformed. Who, then, are the subjects driving the development of new quality productive forces? Does this subject only include the “laborers” within the system of productive forces? The answer to these questions depends on one's understanding of the logic of the development of new quality productive forces.
(1) The Logic of Developing New Quality Productive Forces
“New quality productive forces” and the “development of new quality productive forces” are two concepts that are interrelated yet distinct. Understanding the connotation and characteristics of new quality productive forces is the prerequisite for studying their development; the development of new quality productive forces emphasizes the laws and driving forces within the process of the dynamic evolution of productive forces. “Development” refers to the process of progressive change in things—it is the replacement of the old by the new and the continuous renewal of things. The shift from “new quality productive forces” to the “development of new quality productive forces” reflects a progression in research perspective from the static to the dynamic. Logic refers to the laws of causality in things. In a narrow sense, logic refers to formal or abstract logic—the logic of human abstract thinking. In a broad sense, logic also includes concrete logic, i.e., the logic of human holistic thinking. The logic of the development of new quality productive forces refers to the general laws of their development, mainly including the internal drive mechanisms and the paths of formation.
Productive forces are the most revolutionary and active element. Grounding the study of the logic of development in the historical materialist [2] conception of history is the foundation for analyzing the internal mechanisms and the theoretical prerequisite for exploring the conditions for the development of new quality productive forces. The internal contradictions within the system of productive forces are the fundamental driving force for the development of new quality productive forces, and science and technology are crucial factors therein. The development of new quality productive forces is a process that unifies gradual change and quantitative leaps. This development follows the general logic of the evolution of productive forces while reflecting the prominent characteristic of being led by scientific and technological innovation. The contradictory movement between the productive forces and the relations of production is the fundamental engine driving socio-historical development; productive forces are viewed as the driving force of social history. Science and technology are vital factors within the productive forces. They can be applied to the production process, and by combining with factors such as laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor, they are transformed into actual productive capacity. The development of productive forces possesses a historical dynamism; it develops continuously alongside the progress of science and technology, and productive forces in different eras take on different forms. The development of productive forces promotes universal social intercourse, which in turn drives the further development of productive forces.
From the perspective of the realistic necessity of developing new quality productive forces in China, faced with the urgent requirements of economic transformation and upgrading and a complex, volatile international situation, how to develop new quality productive forces has become a major topic for promoting high-quality development and the process of Chinese-path modernization. Developing new quality productive forces is an inherent requirement and an important focus for promoting high-quality development. We must continue to do a good job on the "great essay" of innovation [3] to accelerate their development. Changing the mode of development, optimizing the economic structure, and shifting the drivers of growth are both the primary directions and the prominent features of high-quality development, in which new quality productive forces play a vital role. From the perspective of historical necessity, highly developed productive forces are the material basis for realizing Communism. Entering the New Era, the completion of China’s First Centenary Goal [4] as scheduled has provided a solid foundation and a new historical starting point for realizing the grand blueprint mapped out at the 20th National Congress of the CPC. The proposal of “new quality productive forces” provides a new logical starting point and theoretical fulcrum for this new journey.
If we explain social and political changes based on the development of productive forces, what then explains the development of the productive forces themselves? Productive forces are the material forces formed by humans in productive practice to transform and influence nature. If we understand the concept of “productive forces” through the two levels of internal factors and external environment: internal factors refer to the inspection of productive forces starting from internal social relations, such as the roles of the technical-material forms and social organizational forms of laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor. The external environment refers to treating society as a whole and exploring its relationship with relevant external factors, such as the impact of the relationship between nature and society, or space and society, on productive forces. Future research on the external environment of productive forces may expand in a divergent manner toward more dimensions. Internal factors and external environments interact to form the actual productive forces of human society.
The resolution of internal contradictions among the various elements of the productive forces is a major source of their development. Within these elements, contradictions exist between tools of production and laborers, between means of labor and objects of labor, and between traditional and new types of production tools. The emergence and resolution of these contradictions drive the development of productive forces. For example, Britain once faced a contradiction where the spinning industry could not keep up with the needs of the weaving industry. Due to the expansion of the world market, a massive demand for cotton cloth arose, which drove a technological revolution in the British cotton weaving industry, resulting in the invention of the flying shuttle to increase productivity. However, spinning could not keep pace, and yarn fell into short supply. To resolve this contradiction, the spinning machine was improved and innovated. Similarly, in the early years of the People's Republic of China, some enterprises introduced advanced Soviet technical equipment, but it sat idle and was wasted because the workers lacked the capacity to operate and apply it—this was a contradiction between the tools of production and the laborers. Examining the development of productive forces from the external environment, the most prominent issue is the contradiction between man and nature in production. Productive forces are influenced not only by the social conditions of labor, such as cooperation and the application of science and technology, but also constrained by the natural conditions of labor, such as soil fertility, water resources, forests, and mineral resources. Human demand for natural resources increases continuously, yet natural resources are finite. In the struggle between man and nature, laborers have improved their various capabilities for response and innovation, while human productive activities in turn impact the natural ecosystem. The deep-seated contradictions between man and nature are mainly reflected in resource competition, environmental pollution, climate change, and ecological imbalance.
Productive forces are the most fundamental dynamic factor in the contradictory movement of productive forces and relations of production, and the ultimate decisive force in the development and progress of human society. The contradictions within the system of productive forces are the fundamental engine of the development of new quality productive forces. The expansion of production factors themselves, and the discovery and application of new natural forces, are important prerequisites for the generation of new quality productive forces. In China’s current system of productive forces, there still exist contradictions between factor-driven development and the requirements of innovation-driven development, between the innovation of advanced technical equipment and the mismatch of laborer skills, and between the development of productive forces and environmental pollution. These contradictions drive the leap of productive forces from the traditional to the "new quality" state. The qualitative leap of the three basic elements of productive forces and their optimal combination constitutes the basic connotation of new quality productive forces.
(2) Subjective Conditions for Developing New Quality Productive Forces
The conditions for the development of new quality productive forces are the externalization of their development logic; they are the analysis and practical application of that logic, including the operating paradigms, value goals, constraint boundaries, and their mutual relations. The relationship between the logic and the conditions is one of abstract to concrete, theory to practice, and internal mechanism to external requirement.
The "economization of technology" and the "technologization of the economy" move in the same direction, and new quality productive forces promote the development of technology-based modes of production. Modern science and technology show a highly integrated trend of fusion, which in turn drives the continuous occurrence of industrial revolutions. The scientific revolution is the precursor to the technological revolution, which is the foundation and prerequisite for the industrial revolution. Science and technology can be applied to the production process, combining with laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor to transform into actual productive capacity. Although science and technology are the "primary productive force," technology itself is not equivalent to productive forces. Only when technology is combined with human labor and mastered by laborers can it become an important material factor of the productive forces. Therefore, new quality productive forces cannot be simply equated with new technology. The role of science and technology in driving industrial structural change and its combination with human labor are both influenced and constrained by the social system—that is, the relations of production. The role of production technology can only manifest within human relations of production. The development of science, technology, and industry is constrained by the internal contradictions of the social relations of production in which they exist. The “technology-industry-institution” paradigm emerging from the logic of new quality productive forces indicates that technological, industrial, and institutional conditions are the operating conditions for achieving high-quality economic development.
The development of new quality productive forces presents a "technology-industry-institution" operating paradigm, and all subjects influencing this operation must be included among the subjects developing these forces. As a form of social productive force, viewed from the three types of practical subjects, the “subject” here primarily emphasizes the collective subject. The collective subject is an assembly of individual subjects, and the individual subject exists within the collective. Specifically, the R&D and production application personnel who realize technological conditions, the consumers, practitioners, and business entities who realize industrial conditions, and the government agencies that realize institutional conditions are all subjects in the development of new quality productive forces. It must be emphasized that consumers also need to be included as subjects. It is the consumption demand for use-value that gives rise to the need to develop productive forces. The contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development is the principal contradiction in Chinese society; satisfying these needs requires the development of new quality productive forces. Consumption creates new production needs and the drive for production. This suggests that we should analyze the necessity and specific paths of China’s development of new quality productive forces starting from the needs of the masses. Thus, based on the understanding of the collective subject, the subjects of developing new quality productive forces can be summarized into three categories: first, producers, including laborers and corporate entities in all industries; second, consumers, who are the demand subjects; third, the government, which is the supplier of the new relations of production—the institutions—that adapt to the development of new quality productive forces. Among these, producers and consumers constitute the micro-subjects of the market economy, while the government is the subject that conducts macro-control over the market economy.
(3) General Manifestations of the Subjectivity of Producers, Consumers, and the Government in the Development of New Quality Productive Forces
Whether as producers, consumers, or government actors, the constituent parts are all human beings endowed with subjectivity. As producers, human subjectivity in the process of developing new quality productive forces is primarily manifested in creativity, enthusiasm for labor, and efficiency in organization and management. Producers are the intellectual source driving the development of new quality productive forces, acting as the subjects of both innovation and labor. We must "improve the mechanism by which factors of production participate in income distribution; stimulate the vitality of productive factors such as labor, knowledge, technology, management, capital, and data; better reflect the market value of knowledge, technology, and talent; and create a favorable atmosphere that encourages innovation and tolerates failure."
As consumers, human subjectivity in the development of new quality productive forces is primarily manifested in "people-centeredness" [5] and in guiding the developmental direction of these forces. Human needs are the engine of productive force development. The people's aspiration for a better life is our goal; at its root, grasping reform and promoting development is for the sake of allowing the people to live better lives. Promoting the well-rounded development of the individual is an essential requirement of socialism. The development of new quality productive forces creates greater material wealth to satisfy the broad needs of the masses, enabling people to gain more freedom to advance human liberation and development.
As members of the government, human subjectivity in the development of new quality productive forces is primarily manifested in the initiative to continue improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and in leadership that adheres to the correct direction of reform. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has persisted in advancing reform by putting the people at the center, consistently placing the people's interests in a position of supremacy, and addressing those interest-related issues that are of the most immediate and practical concern to the people to advance reforms in key areas.
Market subjects refer to individuals and organizational entities that engage in economic activities, enjoy rights, and assume obligations within the market. Any market subject participates in economic activity with a clear purpose: to pursue the maximization of their own interests while satisfying social needs. Micro-market subjects refer to the interest-bearing subjects involved in market exchange, primarily including enterprises and individuals. In a market economy, enterprises and individuals are the most important microeconomic subjects. As productive organizations, enterprises complete the entire process from input to output, while individuals act as consumers and provide factors of production, such as labor power. It is evident, therefore, that producers and consumers constitute the micro-subjects within the market's supply-and-demand structure. Relations of production must adapt to the requirements of the development of productive forces. Developing new quality productive forces requires further comprehensively deepening reform to form new types of relations of production compatible with them. The government is the subject that supplies these relations of production and serves as the subject for macroeconomic regulation of the market economy. Producers, consumers, and the government are the three major subjective forces driving the development of new quality productive forces. At the same time, this development can fully activate the subjectivity of these three actors, allowing the innovativeness of producers to be fully unleashed, the needs of consumers for a better life to be fully met, and the government to continuously modernize the national governance system and capacity along the correct path of reform.
II. Producers: The Laborer Subject and the Enterprise Subject in Developing New Quality Productive Forces
With the continuous transformation and renewal of tools of labor, human modes and forms of labor have undergone a series of changes. These range from the hunting and gathering labor of primitive society relying on natural forces, to the physical extension labor of slave society relying on handicrafts and simple tools; from the artisanal labor of feudal society characterized by the conscious manufacture of complex tools, to the physically augmented labor of capitalist society relying on machine traction; and from the automated labor driven by electricity in the industrial economy era, to the intelligent digital labor relying on programs, algorithms, and controls in the digital economy era. The sequential transformation of labor modes and forms interprets and presents the evolution of human civilization and social productive forces in their entirety. The enterprise is the most fundamental unit of labor organization and microeconomic subject under market economy conditions. The development of new quality productive forces drives the innovation of modes of production and forms of labor organization, while also promoting the transformation of corporate organizational forms and management methods. These transformations can be viewed as changes in the relations of production at the micro-level. They correspond to the "mutual relations among people in the immediate process of production"—one of the components of the "relations of production" in the broad sense (which includes ownership relations of the means of production, mutual relations in the production process, and the exchange and distribution relations of products)—namely, the relations between people during the specific labor process. These micro-level transformations in the relations of production, in turn, react upon the development of new quality productive forces through laborers and enterprises.
(1) Laborers are the fundamental force driving the development of new quality productive forces
When Marx elucidated the concept of "productive forces" in Capital, he frequently used the term "productive power of labor" [6] and examined productive activities from the perspective of the labor process. The labor process is the process in which laborers purposefully use instruments of labor to act upon subjects of labor [7] to create new things; its essence manifests human creative capacity. From this perspective, the three simple elements of the labor process—the laborer, the subject of labor, and the instrument of labor—constitute the three basic elements of the productive forces. The creation, dissemination, and application of intellect have become the keys to driving economic growth. Talent is the primary resource; without the laborer subject, there can be no new quality productive forces. Laborers are the fundamental force and deciding factor in developing new quality productive forces; they are the most active and decisively significant conscious subjects in the formation and utilization of these forces. With the development of science and technology, although the professional division of labor required by the labor process will continue to exist—and may even become increasingly refined and specialized—highly developed productive forces allow individuals to hand over the entirety of material productive labor to a system of automated and intelligent tools. Humans can thus transcend the spontaneous social division of labor. Ample free time enables individuals to engage in numerous fields of social activity. The emergence of "prosumers" [8] makes a new integration of production and consumption possible, providing conditions for the transformation of labor into autonomous activity. This transformation in the micro-level relations of production facilitates the fuller and more comprehensive development of the laborer subject, thereby further driving the development of new quality productive forces. "Technological innovation" and "industrial development" are the two keywords for developing new quality productive forces. Technological innovation is the driving force, while industry is the main battlefield; we must ensure that the "flowers of technology" bear "industrial fruit." The subjective role of laborers in this process is mainly manifested in two aspects: first, the technological innovation labor of scientific researchers, and second, the productive and service labor of industrial workers and agricultural laborers.
Technological innovation labor is a highly complex form of creative labor that will play an increasingly significant role in social production and value creation. Natural scientists and engineering technicians are typical technological innovation laborers. Creative labor is the highest manifestation of human agency, autonomy, and "being-for-itself" [9] as a subject. A laborer subject primarily composed of mental laborers is a prominent feature of the development of new quality productive forces, while disruptive innovation is its technical hallmark. The development of new quality productive forces is a process in which factors such as education and management act upon laborers, tools, and materials under the influence of science and technology—the decisive factor of productive forces—thereby forming new productive power. Under the influence of advanced technology, social productive forces undergo two changes: first, an "incremental revolution," namely the accelerated formation and growth of strategic emerging industries; second, a "structural revolution," namely the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and the formation of new industrial systems. Developing new quality productive forces requires top-tier talent in basic, interdisciplinary, and emerging disciplines to lead source innovation; it also requires engineering and technical personnel, "Great Country Artisans" [10], and "skilled craftsmen" to serve the path of new-type industrialization. We need scientists, first-class technological leaders, and innovation teams, as well as a vast pool of young technological talent. We must implement the strategy of strengthening the nation through talent, cultivating more scientists and innovation teams, promoting the "spirit of the scientist," emphasizing a "high-end, precision, and sophisticated" orientation, and cultivating top-tier and scarce talent that meets national strategic needs and leads economic and social development.
The productive and service labor of industrial workers and agricultural laborers constitutes the realistic means and specific path for driving the development of new quality productive forces. If science and technology are not combined with their labor, they cannot be transformed into actual productive forces. Science and technology must be applied to the production process and integrated with the laborers, instruments, and subjects of labor to be transformed into actual productive capacity. The broad masses of working people are the main force; they remain on the front lines of production and construction, consolidating the foundation of socialist modernization with a high sense of ownership, diligent labor, and a spirit of self-reliance. In their labor, the masses have tempered the "Model Worker Spirit" (represented by devotion to work, hard struggle, and willingness to contribute), the "Labor Spirit" (represented by honoring, diligent, and honest labor), and the "Artisan Spirit" (represented by pursuit of excellence, meticulousness, and striving for perfection).
New quality productive forces constitute a system of factor aggregates that use technology as a permeating element to drive the optimal combination of multiple factors, thereby constructing a new structure of productive forces and achieving a qualitative leap in their function. This enhances the social aggregation effect of the division, coordination, and exchange of labor. Individual labor, as part of the "total labor," connects with society. Marx pointed out, "I have produced for society what I have produced for myself, and each member of society labors for me in another sphere." The development of new quality productive forces aggregates the single data points of micro-market subjects across production, exchange, consumption, and distribution into Big Data. General social intellect is increasingly condensed into intelligent tools of labor, participating in the total social labor process in the form of constant capital. The resource sharing and collaborative innovation driven by new quality productive forces manifest as a "social integration effect," prompting the emergence of new business models and labor organizations. Platforms gain flexibility in employment, promoting labor employment in this manner—a further manifestation of the "externalization of employment." Labor relations, however, become more unstable in this process.
While laborers drive the development of new quality productive forces, this development also brings about the improvement of labor conditions, assisting in the high-quality reproduction of labor power itself and promoting the well-rounded development of laborers. The application of automation and robotics reduces the physical burden on workers; intelligent decision-support systems reduce repetition and errors, providing more safety and career development space, thereby increasing the people's sense of fulfillment. If traditional machine-based productivity surpassed human power in the sense of physical limits, then new quality productive forces driven by new-type AI achieve a transcendence of all previous productive forces in both the physical and cognitive dimensions. Productive forces begin to engage in autonomous movement and self-improvement. The development of new quality productive forces allows for the coexistence of the "bit world" and the "atom world" generated by these forces. The enhancement of human labor capacity is primarily reflected in the flexible and autonomous engagement with various contexts created by intelligent thinking. New quality productive forces will inevitably drive a leap in human capability and promote the free and well-rounded development of laborers.
(2) The enterprise is the innovation subject for moving new quality productive forces forward
Enterprises are the primary actors of market operations and the main bodies of scientific and technological innovation; developing new quality productive forces requires giving full play to the leading role of innovative enterprises. Constructing new relations of production that are compatible with new quality productive forces necessitates the deep advancement of digital transformation within innovative enterprises to form a new paradigm of micro-enterprise management. Digital transformation effectively improves labor productivity through multiple mechanisms, such as optimizing the allocation of human capital, enhancing management efficiency, and strengthening corporate innovation capabilities. In the process of moving the manufacturing value chain toward the high end, digital transformation exerts a positive impact on corporate total factor productivity by activating R&D innovation and reducing transaction costs. The shift in corporate management models from "profit-guided" to "vision-guided" helps promote the development of new quality productive forces by enhancing corporate innovativeness. Innovative enterprises are not only the direct practitioners of technological innovation and industrial upgrading—playing a key role in the conversion process from original technological innovation to high-quality industrial application—but are also the front-line positions for the innovative configuration of production factors and the deepened application of new technologies, as well as important sites where new industries, new business forms, and new models rapidly emerge.
Innovative enterprises possess the capacity and motivation to support the development of new quality productive forces, and developing these forces necessitates giving full play to their primary role. Enterprises directly face domestic and international markets and possess a natural capacity and motivation to link science and technology with industry. Important innovative resources and factors such as talent, capital, and technology can only be effectively combined through enterprises and entrepreneurs, thereby being transformed into actual productive forces to promote economic growth.
For example, Huawei, as a world-renowned innovative enterprise, manifests its innovativeness primarily in technological innovation, institutional innovation, organizational innovation, and innovation in decision-making systems. Since 1992, Huawei has persisted in investing at least 10% of its annual sales revenue into R&D. In 2023, its R&D investment reached 164.7 billion RMB, accounting for 23.4% of its annual revenue, with R&D personnel comprising approximately 55% of its workforce; its cumulative R&D expenditure over ten years has exceeded 1.11 trillion RMB. Huawei maintains 16 global R&D centers and established "2012 Labs" [12] in 2011 for basic science research, providing a scientific and technological foundation for product innovation. This has demonstrated strong developmental resilience and potential, particularly amidst external "encirclement and suppression" [13]. Currently, Huawei's Kirin chips continue to evolve; in 2020, it launched the Kirin 9000, the world’s first 5nm process 5G SoC, and is expected to realize 3nm processes. Furthermore, Huawei launched the HarmonyOS system, achieving independent innovation in operating systems. Beyond technological innovation, whether it be equity innovation through the "laborers holding shares" model or decision-making innovations such as the "Rotating COO" system, these have made Huawei a technology enterprise with great vitality and innovative potential. The essential attributes of new quality productive forces require innovative enterprises to become the primary support for their development.
New quality productive forces represent an advanced state of productive forces in which innovation plays the leading role. Enterprises are the main body of innovation. We must release the innovative drive of enterprises and stimulate the innovative vitality of talent, making enterprises an important force in developing new quality productive forces. It is necessary to further refine market-oriented mechanisms for technological innovation and enhance the independent innovation capabilities of enterprises. We must improve both market-oriented mechanisms for technological innovation and government guidance mechanisms, strengthen collaborative innovation among industry, academia, and research institutes, and guide various innovative factors to cluster toward enterprises. This will promote enterprises becoming the primary actors in technological innovation decision-making, R&D investment, scientific research organization, and the transformation of achievements. As market entities driving the development of new quality productive forces, enterprises need to construct new micro-level relations of production compatible with this development. These micro-level relations of production involve not only the relationships between people in the production process—including labor-capital relations and relations between workers—but also the relationship between humans and the tools of production. The digitalization and "intellectualization" [14] of production tools urge enterprises to rely on technological innovation and optimization to improve efficiency and reduce production costs, rather than increasing profits through traditional methods of labor control; this is a product of creative labor. New micro-level relations of production compatible with new quality productive forces require enterprises to adopt creative modes of production and build more harmonious labor relations internally. These new micro-level relations of production are organizational forms and management models that match new combinations of factors, characterized by intelligence, collaboration, and flexibility, helping to strengthen the status of enterprises as the primary actors of innovation.
III. Consumers: The Demand-Side Subject for Developing New Quality Productive Forces
"Need" (需要) usually refers to people's basic requirements or desires, conditions necessary for individual survival and development. It is an internal, spontaneous state reflecting physiological and psychological deficiencies. "Demand" (需求), on the other hand, refers to the willingness and ability of people to purchase a certain product or service under specific conditions. Demand is built upon the foundation of needs, but it is the concrete manifestation of needs within a social environment and economic conditions. Demand has clear objects, usually pointing toward specific goods or services. Demand guides production; the people's aspiration for a better life provides the demand foundation, application space, and market momentum for the development of new quality productive forces. Production creates demand; new quality productive forces provide the subject of consumption with more products, broader choices, and superior quality. A virtuous cycle of mutual promotion and common development can be formed between new quality productive forces and consumer demand. The continuous upgrading of the consumption structure of demand-side subjects places requirements on the upgrading of consumer goods. The upgrading of consumer goods toward more intelligent, personalized, and diversified forms possesses the main characteristics of "new consumption," making consumer demand an important lever for optimizing supply and developing new quality productive forces. Digital technology enables enterprises to achieve more efficient operations while allowing consumers to obtain higher-quality consumption and superior customer experiences; customized and experiential consumption is rapidly becoming popular, leading to continuous consumption upgrades.
(1) The Upgrading of Consumer Subject Demand Provides the Traction for Developing New Quality Productive Forces
In order for people to be able to "make history," they must be able to live, and in order to live, they must engage in material production activities. Human needs are the driver of the development of productive forces. To maintain survival and life, humans have needs for food, drink, housing, and clothing; consequently, they must develop productive forces. Consumer demand drives the development of new quality productive forces, and consumption creates new production needs and momentum. Entering the New Era, the people’s needs for a better life have become increasingly diversified, placing higher-level requirements not only on material life but also on spiritual and cultural life. Society needs to produce products and services at more levels and dimensions to meet the people's needs for a better life; the upgrading of consumer demand provides the traction for the development of new quality productive forces. In recent years, the Engel coefficient of Chinese residents has continued to decline, while consumption expenditures on education, culture, entertainment, and medical care have increased significantly, showing a marked trend of consumption upgrading. The consumption structure of residents has undergone a fundamental change; the people are no longer satisfied with merely having enough food and clothing but are shifting toward developmental, hedonic, and service-oriented consumption. This new consumption trend provide an inexhaustible source of power for the development of new quality productive forces, making products with high added technological value, such as smart devices and services, important supply targets in the development process. Consumption upgrading provides ultra-large-scale market demand for product supply under the conditions of new quality productive forces, supporting their development and investment. To lead the development of new quality productive forces with new consumer demand, we should take the upgrading of resident consumption and consumer goods as an opportunity to allow high-end, intelligent, and green products and services to enter the lives of consumers. China is the world’s largest single market, with prominent ultra-large-scale market advantages and diverse tiers of demand, providing both huge market demand and rich application scenarios for the development of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. This possesses the scale effect of technological innovation; by relying on the vast domestic market, costs can be rapidly reduced, techno-economic efficiency improved, and emerging industries cultivated.
In the New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society is the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development [15]. Behind this contradiction remains the contradiction between supply and demand; satisfying the people's growing consumption demand and quality is the ultimate goal of developing new quality productive forces. Under traditional consumption models, commodity producers and consumers are linked through various commercial institutions, making it difficult for suppliers to know the instantaneous needs of consumers. The development and maturity of emerging digital-intelligent technologies, such as cloud computing and big data, provide the basic technical support for the formation of platform-based consumption models. Under a platform-based consumption model, consumers express their true, real-time needs through digital-intelligent consumption platforms, forcing the supply side of the market to promptly innovate and optimize goods and services so they can better match the dynamic changes in market demand. We must cultivate new quality productive forces oriented toward new consumer demands. Taking automobiles and home appliances as examples: under traditional consumption, these merely satisfied consumer preferences and needs for commodities. However, with the deep application of technologies like AI and 5G, automobiles and appliances loaded with intelligent and networked features can provide feedback on consumer behavior and preferences to producers. This promotes the continuous updating of products and services on the production side; by promptly extracting consumer information, products and services can be iteratively improved, realizing the continuous transformation and leaping of the forms and states of productive forces on an even larger scale, thereby promoting the cultivation of new quality productive forces and the continuous improvement of innovation capabilities.
(2) Developing New Quality Productive Forces Can Better Meet the People's Needs for a Better Life
From the perspective of consumption levels, the development of new quality productive forces promotes the improvement of total factor productivity, enabling more products and services to be provided to consumers with higher efficiency. New quality productive forces are characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, with a significant increase in total factor productivity as the core indicator. These forces are "new" in their new technologies, new factors, and new combinations. New quality productive forces constitute a system of factor sets wherein technology acts as a pervasive factor driving the optimized combination of multiple factors to form a new structure of productive forces and promote a qualitative leap in their function. This greatly enhances production efficiency and product quality, thereby enabling the provision of a larger quantity of consumer goods at a given cost. Furthermore, developing new quality productive forces should be combined with improving residents' consumption power, using the development of these forces to increase resident income. We must improve the mechanism by which factors participate in income distribution, stimulating the vitality of production factors such as labor, knowledge, technology, management, capital, and data, and better reflecting the market value of knowledge, technology, and talent. Developing productive forces is the material basis for increasing resident income. The development of new quality productive forces improves labor efficiency and spawns new jobs such as software engineers, data analysts, and biotechnology experts, raising the income levels of high-skilled workers and creating more employment opportunities, which helps to increase the consumption level of demand-side subjects through higher income.
From the perspective of consumption structure, the development of new quality productive forces has given birth to new industries and promoted the upgrading of traditional industries. Industrial innovation provides consumers with new consumer goods and optimizes the supply structure of commodities. The "quality" (质) of new quality productive forces is centrally reflected in the essential technological transformation, the upgrading of factors in terms of quality, and the advanced progression of factor combinations. The direct result is the qualitative improvement of overall productive forces and the qualitative satisfaction of the people’s needs for a better life; it is a productive force of a new qualitative state. The development of new quality productive forces is also a process of innovative application of new production methods, which will inevitably bring about the expansion of production boundaries, including launching new products, adopting new production methods, opening new markets, obtaining new sources of supply, and forming new organizations. Industry is the vehicle for developing new quality productive forces. This development is reflected both in promoting strategic emerging industries and future industries, and in using revolutionary technologies to transform traditional industries to form new industrial states; it is also reflected in promoting industrial integration to form new industrial models. The development of the industrial structure determines the development of the consumption structure. Providing consumers with new products, new services, and higher-quality consumer goods can better meet the people’s needs for a better life. A series of products related to typical business forms of new quality productive forces—such as smart homes, new energy vehicles, low-altitude aircraft, smart sports equipment, and intelligent translators—bring brand new experiences to consumers while stimulating more new consumer demand and leading the upgrading of demand quality.
From the perspective of consumption patterns, the development of new quality productive forces has promoted the emergence of new business forms and models, such as the sharing economy and the platform economy. The appearance of these new forms and models provides consumers with more choices in terms of consumption methods. For example, shared mobility has reduced the demand for individual car purchases, which not only alleviates urban traffic pressure but also lowers household expenditures and improves quality of life. Informatization, networking, and platformization have changed the way people communicate and consume goods, making lives more convenient and diverse. Digital platforms and mobile applications have put knowledge, culture, and entertainment content within reach; the popularization of services like online education and telemedicine has significantly improved quality of life, particularly benefiting residents in remote areas or those with limited mobility. New quality productive forces are, in essence, green productive forces; they meet the people’s needs for environmental protection, energy conservation, and sustainable lifestyles. Intelligent technologies allow consumers to obtain more personalized and diverse customized product services, satisfying the pursuit of a high-quality life. Utilizing the deep integration of digital-intelligent technology with various e-commerce platforms, commercial entities, and service enterprises to construct innovative digital-intelligent technical scenarios can more accurately capture consumer demand, thereby promoting the transformation and upgrading of consumption structures and patterns.
IV. Government: The Subject of Institutional Supply for Developing New Quality Productive Forces
In the operation of the socialist market economy system, production subjects and consumption subjects—as the micro-level subjects of the market economy—realize the continuous improvement of productive forces through mutual promotion. The operation of the socialist market economy system cannot function without the government's macro-control: "Scientific macro-control and effective government governance are inherent requirements for leveraging the advantages of the socialist market economy system." New quality productive forces are both a developmental proposition and a reform proposition. The themes of Marxist political economy [16] encompass research into changes in the relations of production during the development of productive forces, as well as research into how the transformation of relations of production clears the way for the development of productive forces. The impetus given by science and technology to the transformation of industrial structures, as well as the combination of science and technology with human labor, are both influenced and constrained by the social system—that is, the relations of production. The development of science, technology, and industry is constrained by the internal contradictions of the relations of production in the society where they exist. The government is the subject of supply for the relations of production and the economic institutions required to develop new quality productive forces. The central government carries out top-level design for the basic principles and overall methods of developing new quality productive forces, making overall deployments for forming new-type relations of production compatible with new quality productive forces through further comprehensively deepening reform [17]. Local governments must persist in proceeding from reality, upholding the principle of "establishing the new before breaking the old" [18], taking measures in light of local conditions, and providing classified guidance. Based on local resource endowments, industrial foundations, and scientific research conditions, they should selectively promote the development of new industries, new models, and new drivers of growth.
(1) The Central Government’s Top-level Design of Institutional Supply for Developing New Quality Productive Forces
"Relations of production must adapt to the requirements of the development of productive forces. To develop new quality productive forces, we must further comprehensively deepen reform and form new-type relations of production compatible with them. We must deepen reforms of the economic system and the scientific and technological systems, strive to clear the bottlenecks and obstructions [19] constraining the development of new quality productive forces, establish a high-standard market system, innovate the mode of allocating factors of production, and allow various advanced and high-quality factors of production to flow smoothly toward the development of new quality productive forces. At the same time, we must expand high-level opening up to the outside world to create a favorable international environment for the development of new quality productive forces." We should focus on the new requirements that the development of new quality productive forces places on the relations of production. Taking economic system reform as the lead, we must further deepen reforms of the scientific and technological systems and the personnel [20] system, as well as further deepening reforms of the political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization systems and the Party building system. By improving the superstructure to adapt to the developmental requirements of the economic base, we can explore specific paths for reform in various fields to promote the development of new quality productive forces. The 2024 Report on the Work of the Government proposed to "vigorously promote the construction of a modernized industrial system and accelerate the development of new quality productive forces. Give full play to the leading role of innovation, promote industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation, accelerate the promotion of new-type industrialization, improve total factor productivity, continuously shape new drivers and advantages for development, and promote a new leap in social productive forces." Relevant key tasks for 2024 include promoting the optimization and upgrading of industrial and supply chains, actively cultivating emerging and future industries, and deeply advancing the innovative development of the digital economy.
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized taking economic system reform as the lead and made comprehensive deployments for reforms in all fields and aspects. Handling the relationship between the government and the market is the core issue of economic system reform. Deepening economic system reform must center on handling this core issue, placing the construction of a high-level socialist market economy system in a prominent position, giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and better playing the role of the government. Deepening economic system reform requires building a modern industrial system and forward-looking cultivation and expansion of strategic emerging industries and future industries. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of a national unified large market [21] to leverage the innovation advantages of a super-large-scale market. We must improve the mechanism for factors of production to participate in income distribution to stimulate the vitality of factors such as labor, knowledge, technology, management, capital, and data. We must expand high-level opening up to create a favorable international environment for developing new quality productive forces. We should optimize the layout of major productive forces and improve the institutions and mechanisms for developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions. To cultivate new drivers for the development of new quality productive forces, the main tasks for deepening the reform of the scientific and technological system are to focus on the supply of common foundational technologies and the application of technological transformation. Innovation is the engine for developing new quality productive forces. In modern society, many scientific research entities exist as enterprises, yet a large number of research institutions remain "public institutions" (shiye danwei) [22], existing as public affairs agencies rather than enterprises. Under socialist conditions, China's national scientific research system can efficiently coordinate forces from all sides, precisely investing limited resources into key scientific research fields, and deploying core technology breakthroughs and collaborative operations of research teams in areas like chips, aerospace, and 5G from the level of national strategy. It is necessary to deepen the reform of the institutions and mechanisms for scientific and technological innovation, improve the scientific and technological innovation system, and optimize the evaluation system for innovation achievements. We should deepen the classified reform of scientific research institutes and the reform of the scientific research systems in higher education institutions, constructing governance structures that conform to the laws of innovation with clear functional positioning, improving the organization and operational management mechanisms of research, increasing knowledge creation and supply, and fortifying the foundation of the national innovation system. "In accordance with the requirements for developing new quality productive forces, we must smooth the virtuous cycle of education, science and technology, and talent, and improve the mechanisms for training, introducing, using, and rationally circulating talent." According to new trends in technological development, we must optimize the disciplinary settings and talent training models in higher education institutions to cultivate urgently needed talent for developing new quality productive forces and promoting high-quality development.
The system of socialism with Chinese characteristics possesses the advantage of mobilizing resources to accomplish major undertakings [23]. It has the advantage of persisting in reform and innovation, advancing with the times, and being adept at self-improvement and self-development. It also has the advantage of relying on the dual forces of the government and the market to promote the development of productive forces. The development of new quality productive forces calls for the formation of relations of production that are better adapted to them; this includes both transforming the parts of existing relations of production that do not meet the requirements of new quality productive forces and constructing new-type relations of production to promote their further development. Accelerating the formation of relations of production better adapted to new quality productive forces requires further improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics through systematically integrated comprehensive reforms. We must persist in and develop the basic economic system, improve the construction of the macro-economic governance system, accelerate the construction of institutions and mechanisms for high-quality development, and increase support for innovation-driven development and the integrated development of urban and rural areas. This will further liberate and develop social productive forces and further enhance social vitality, thereby making the relations of production better adapt to the development of productive forces and the superstructure better adapt to the development of the economic base.
(2) Local Governments Cultivating New Quality Productive Forces in Light of Local Conditions
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Developing new quality productive forces does not mean neglecting or abandoning traditional industries; we must prevent a rush into action [24] and the creation of bubbles, and we must not adopt a single model. All localities must persist in proceeding from reality, uphold the principle of establishing the new before breaking the old, take measures in light of local conditions, and provide classified guidance. Based on local resource endowments, industrial foundations, and scientific research conditions, they should selectively promote the development of new industries, new models, and new drivers of growth, use new technologies to transform and upgrade traditional industries, and actively promote industries to become higher-end, more intelligent, and greener." Acting "in light of local conditions" means developing new quality productive forces according to the actual situation of each region, effectively promoting the rational flow and efficient aggregation of various factors in the process of fully stimulating the comparative advantages of each region. Since endowments, resources, and development levels vary widely across localities, local governments must grasp the key priorities and difficulties and must not simply apply a single development model; they must "prescribe the right medicine for the illness."
The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-path Modernization adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee clearly proposed to "improve the institutions and mechanisms for developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions" and made comprehensive deployments. Under the premise of obeying national strategic policies, local governments should identify their own advantages, rationally lay out the developmental fields and specific directions for new quality productive forces, and cultivate advanced industrial clusters with distinct characteristics. For example, in the practice of promoting new quality productive forces, Beijing has leveraged its technological innovation advantages—based on being an international scientific and technological innovation center, the Zhongguancun world-leading high-tech park, abundant talent resources, and a large number of first-class universities and research institutes—to use technology business incubators as carriers to promote original technological innovation and the transformation of scientific achievements. It accelerates "hard tech" entrepreneurship, conducts advanced deep incubation oriented toward the global frontiers of science and technology, and creates an open innovation ecosystem with global influence. Shenzhen coordinates the development of "20+8" industrial clusters, utilizing its key advantages in developing high and new technology to form a whole-process innovation ecological chain of "basic research + technical breakthrough + industrialization of achievements + technology finance + talent support," building strategic emerging industries with advanced manufacturing as the mainstay. Hangzhou, leveraging its advantage as the "capital of the internet," focuses on digital empowerment, promoting the "second ascent" and development of the digital economy. Closely following the development orientation of "Digital-Intelligent Hangzhou · Livable Paradise," it accelerates the integration of digital and physical economies, cultivating six future industries: future networks, future healthcare, air-ground integration, the metaverse, brain-like intelligence, and frontier new materials.
Local governments must give full play to their own subjectivity and initiative, cultivating new quality productive forces in light of local conditions based on resource endowments, industrial foundations, and scientific research conditions. They must avoid low-level development characterized by homogeneity, duplication, and disorderly competition. Regions rich in scientific and technological resources should closely track core elements of technological innovation, accelerate the construction of a complete innovation ecosystem, promote the rapid emergence of original and disruptive technologies, and create "source-points" [25] for original innovation. National-level manufacturing clusters and industrial bases should strive to promote the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing, promote the close integration of technological and industrial innovation, and achieve innovation-driven development. Resource-rich regions should increase the refined and high-value extraction and utilization of resources, transforming resource advantages into economic development advantages and promoting the cultivation of new economic growth points. Border regions opening to the outside world should focus on promoting the high-quality development of platforms such as border economic cooperation zones, cross-border economic cooperation zones, and cross-border tourism cooperation zones, vigorously promoting development and opening up along the borders.
V. Improving the Subjective Conditions for Developing New Quality Productive Forces
The goal of building a high-level socialist market economy system and further comprehensively deepening reform is to "further liberate and develop social productive forces and stimulate and enhance social vitality." New quality productive forces are an advanced state of productive forces in which innovation plays the leading role; they break away from traditional economic growth modes and development paths of productive forces, featuring high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, and aligning with the New Development Philosophy. They are birthed by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of factors of production, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. Their basic connotation is the leap in laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor and their optimized combination. Their core indicator is a significant increase in total factor productivity. Their characteristic is innovation, their key lies in high quality, and their essence is advanced productive forces. The goal of building a high-level socialist market economy system is consistent with the goal of developing new quality productive forces. A high-level socialist market economy system is a market economy built on the foundation of the socialist system. By strengthening talent incentive mechanisms, fully releasing the development vitality of laborers, fully protecting intellectual property rights, supporting enterprises in improving their level of independent innovation, better coordinating consumption and investment, stimulating consumption potential, and improving the basic institutions of the market economy and the macro-economic governance system, it can leverage the initiative of various subjects—labor subjects, enterprise subjects, consumer subjects, and government subjects—to provide lasting momentum for the development of new quality productive forces. Improving the subjective conditions for developing new quality productive forces requires starting from multiple aspects such as education, innovation, consumption, and the market.
First, promote the deep integrated development of the education chain, the talent chain, the innovation chain, and the industrial chain; unblock the virtuous cycle between education, talent, science and technology, and industry; and fully activate the enthusiasm of all subjects [26] to provide intellectual sources and endogenous momentum for the development of new quality productive forces. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [27] proposed that we must thoroughly implement the strategy of invigorating China through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the nation through talent, and the innovation-driven development strategy. It made arrangements and deployments for "coordinating the integrated reform of the systems and mechanisms for education, science and technology, and talent," while setting higher requirements for further promoting the deep integration of the innovation chain, the industrial chain, the capital chain, and the talent chain. It is necessary to deepen the comprehensive reform of education, the reform of the scientific and technological system, and the reform of the systems and mechanisms for talent development, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of the national innovation system and achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.
Second, it is necessary to fully stimulate the vitality of various corporate subjects. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made deployments on strengthening the principal position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation to further stimulate their innovation vitality. We must reinforce the leading role of enterprises in technological innovation, establish mechanisms for cultivating and expanding leading scientific and technological enterprises, strengthen the deep integration of industry, academia, and research led by enterprises, establish a corporate R&D reserve fund system, and support enterprises in taking the lead in or participating in national key scientific and technological breakthrough tasks. We should build mechanisms to promote the development and growth of "specialized, refined, differential, and innovative" [28] small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We should encourage technology-based SMEs to increase R&D investment and raise the proportion of additional tax deductions for R&D expenses. Only by achieving equal competition among enterprises of all types of ownership—treating them as equals in terms of taxation, credit, listing, bond issuance, land use, and project approval—can we stimulate the innovation vitality of all types of enterprises.
Third, we must organically combine the strategy of expanding domestic demand with the deepening of supply-side structural reform, better coordinate consumption and investment, promote steady growth in consumption, cultivate and expand new types of consumption, optimize the consumption environment, and better meet the people's needs for a better life. The Central Economic Work Conference [29] pointed out that one of the key tasks for 2025 is to vigorously boost consumption and expand domestic demand in an all-round way. We should implement special actions to boost consumption, promote income increases and burden reductions for middle- and low-income groups, and enhance consumption capacity, willingness, and tiers. We must accelerate the cultivation of a complete domestic demand system and establish long-term mechanisms for government investment to support the construction of fundamental, public-interest, and long-term major projects. We should improve the long-term mechanism for expanding consumption, reduce restrictive measures, reasonably increase public consumption, and actively promote the "First-Store Economy" [30].
Fourth, we must handle the relationship between the government and the market well, fully activating the enthusiasm of market subjects (including both producers and consumers) while also giving full play to the enthusiasm of the subjects of institutional supply, thereby fully combining the "effective market" with the "promising government" [31]. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized both "unleashing vitality" and "maintaining order," providing a scientific disclosure and dialectical understanding of market effectiveness and market failure, as well as market vitality and market order. This helps stimulate the endogenous momentum and innovation vitality of the whole society, accelerating the reform of China's market mechanisms along the correct direction and path. Achieving high-efficiency resource allocation and high-performance macroeconomic governance are important goals for building a high-level socialist market economy system; they are also the primary means for forming new relations of production and promoting the development of new quality productive forces.
(The author is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Marxism, Sun Yat-sen University, and a Special Researcher at the Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.)
Source: World Socialism Studies, No. 3, 2025. Web Editor: Ma Jingren.