China's changing economy is also changing parts of the country. Many companies are flocking to central China where costs tend to be lower. There, many are turning to smart manufacturing which allows companies to produce more in a shorter timeframe. CGTN's Li Jianhua takes us to a town in Hunan province that's reaping the benefits.

This is how the lighters you use are made. As China's and also the world's largest lighter manufacturer, about eight to ten million of them are produced by this company on a daily basis, which executives say is thanks to their new intelligent manufacturing mode. 

Many are exported, including to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

ZHANG MING, GENERAL MANAGER HUNAN HONGDE ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD "Lighters used to be assembled manually. The quality couldn't be guaranteed. With the cost of manual labor rising, the competitiveness of our products was declining. Now the introduction of intelligent manufacturing is cutting back on the number of people on the assembly line from some 50 to just three. The productivity is much higher now."

We went to visit another industry dominating nearly 95 percent of the world's total demand suitcases. In this company alone, three thousand suitcases are made every day, but as recently as a year ago, their productivity was one-tenth of that. Regardless, many are low-end products, exported to countries with sluggish economies. 

WANG YAN CEO, HUNAN LONGGE SUITCASE "China should make its own brand. We should work on high-end products of our own, and this should be the trend. Low-end original equipment manufacturing should be cut down gradually."

For years, China's central regions where the economy is weaker has lost talent to eastern and southern China. But now authorities are reversing this trend by moving manufacturing hubs and technologies to Central China.

LIU PENGFEI, CO-DIRECTOR SHAODONG INTELLIGENT MANUFACTURING INNOVATIVE INSTITUTE "We're here to revive traditional local industries. Shaodong has been known for making lighters, clothing, suitcases, and plastic products. We're injecting new technologies and equipment into these local companies. For instance, we're boosting the additional value of suitcases by employing some technologies, including locating and telecommunications, whose value could increase by five to ten fold."

In Hunan province as a whole, projects driven by intelligent manufacturing have increased 72 percent in the first half of this year. And this county is just one of the pilot zones.

LI JIANHUA SHAODONG COUNTY, HUNAN PROVINCE "This small town gathers many of China's light industrial products, a labor-intensive process. Gradually the mode of intelligent manufacturing is being introduced to upgrade these industries through innovation. But the problem is many of these products are still on the low end. LJH, CGTN, SHAODONG COUNTY, HUNAN PROVINCE."