Last year, China shipped more than $2 trillion worth of goods to ports around the world, while at home, Chinese manufacturers, processors, and producers have a potential customer base of 1.4 billion people. Every day in China, government entities, along with private factories, construction firms, artists, designers, developers, and an army of workers are creating billions of items, from stuffed toys to skyscrapers, solar cells, “smart” sex dolls, squid snacks, and much more. Here, a collection of recent images showing some of the work taking place in China’s factories, showrooms, workshops, and construction sites.
Photos: Made in China
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A model showcases designs on the runway at the MAOGEPING show by Designer Mao Geping, on day two of Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2018/2019, at 751D.PARK in Beijing on March 26, 2018. #
Lintao Zhang / Getty -
The construction site of a hotel being built inside an abandoned quarry in Songjiang District in Shanghai on October 26, 2017. Work is still under way to build the five-star underground hotel. Two of the floors will be above ground and 16 below, but the two bottom floors will be underwater and boast a glass-walled aquarium, a restaurant and guest rooms. #
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A worker puts finishing touches to iPal social robots, designed by AvatarMind, at an assembly plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, on July 4, 2018. Designed to offer education, care and companionship to children and the elderly, the 3.5-foot tall humanoid robots come in two genders and can tell stories, take photos and deliver educational or promotional content. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
Bridge pillars stand at a construction site of a railway bridge built by China Railway Bridge Bureau, as part of the new high-speed Wuhan-Shiyan rail line in Xiangyang, Hubei province, on November 8, 2017. #
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Working staff assemble China's "Fuxing" high-speed bullet trains on the manufacturing line of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on June 8, 2018. #
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A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the 24th and 25th Beidou navigation satellites takes off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on November 5, 2017, in Xichang, China. #
VCG via Getty -
A model showcases designs on the runway at a show by Designer Mao Geping on day two of Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2018/2019 at 751D.PARK in Beijing on March 26, 2018. #
Yanshan Zhang / Getty -
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Arts professor Xie Yong works on a needle-covered sculpture of a bear performing circus stunt at a workshop of Shenyang University in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on April 5, 2018. The artwork, featuring three circus bears covered in needles, aims to highlight animal abuse in circuses. #
Sheng Li / Reuters -
An aerial view of the Hutong Yangtze Bridge connecting Shanghai and Nantong, under construction on April 19, 2018, in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. When completed, the structure will be the world's longest cable-stayed bridge. #
VCG via Getty -
Technicians inspect the front of China's third domestically-produced single-aisle passenger jet C919 before it leaves the factory on May 4, 2017, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. #
Liu Zhongjun / CNSPHOTO / VCG via Getty -
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A worker makes the eyes for silicone dolls at a doll factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian, on February 1, 2018. With China facing a massive gender gap and a graying population, EXDOLL wants to hook up lonely men and retirees with a new kind of companion: "Smart" sex dolls that can talk, play music and turn on dishwashers. #
Fred Dufour / AFP / Getty -
Sex dolls with different shapes and skin colors hang in a warehouse at the WMDOLL factory in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, on July 11, 2018. Exports account for 80 percent of WMDOLL sales, and half of their overseas shipments go to the United States. #
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Farmers hang persimmons to dry them on October 24, 2017, in Zibo, Shandong Province. Around 50,000 acres of dried persimmons were exported to other countries and regions last year. #
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A 174-foot (53-meter) high replica of a transformer robot stands above the construction site of East Valley of Science and Fantasy virtual-reality theme park in Guiyang, in China's southwestern Guizhou province, on October 26, 2017. #
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Workers make flags for U.S. President Donald Trump's "Keep America Great!" 2020 re-election campaign at the Jiahao flag factory in Fuyang, Anhui province, China, on July 24, 2018. #
Aly Song / Reuters
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