Jiangmen is not a major coffee-bean producer, yet it has grown into a coffee powerhouse with an annual output value of more than 3 billion yuan. Shantou has no large-scale cattle farming, yet it has turned beef hot pot into a city signature. Jieyang does not produce jade or jadeite, yet it is home to Asia's largest and most sophisticated jade processing base and trading market. Zhongshan has no native rosewood resources, yet it has fostered a nationally leading rosewood furniture industry cluster. Dongguan produces little tea, yet it is known as "China's Capital of Tea Storage." Looking into the underlying logic behind Guangdong's ability to create industries from scratch, we see more than the breakthroughs of individual cities. We see a major economic province's deep understanding of the laws of modern industrial development, as well as its vivid practice of them.

Traditional industrial thinking is based on the idea that a place develops industries according to the resources it has. Where there is ore, steelmaking follows; where there is cotton, textile production takes root. What matters most, in this logic, is natural endowment. Yet Guangdong's examples of creating industries from scratch have broken free from precisely this logic.

Jiangmen's coffee industry is the most vivid example. The city has brought together more than 300 varieties of specialty green coffee beans from major producing areas such as Brazil, Ethiopia and Colombia, with annual imports exceeding 30 million yuan. It is home to 21 licensed coffee roasters, with an annual production capacity of more than 10,000 tonnes, and its export volume accounts for 20% of the national total. The city also has more than 350 companies producing coffee equipment and spare parts. Around 40% of China's stainless-steel coffee utensils are made in Jiangmen, and one in every five exported coffee machines is produced there. While other places are still looking for opportunities in growing coffee beans or opening coffee shops, Jiangmen has long set its sights on higher-value links in the industrial chain, including cross-border trade in green coffee beans, smart coffee roasting and processing, and precision equipment manufacturing. These are the key links that allow it to secure a central position in the industry.

Over the years, Guangdong, especially the Pearl River Delta region, has developed a highly specialized and closely coordinated industrial network. Its manufacturing sector covers a full range of categories and is supported by strong supply-chain capabilities. This systemic strength allows new technologies to be quickly embedded into existing industrial structures, making it possible to create something where there was once seemingly nothing.

Ultimately, Guangdong's ability to create industries from scratch rests on people. Guangdong is often described as a province of "seven parts mountains, one part water and two parts farmland," and its natural endowments are not particularly outstanding. Yet it is precisely these limited resource conditions that have tempered the survival wisdom and business acumen of the Guangdong people: they are not trapped by the status quo, not bound by fixed patterns, good at integrating resources, and bold in opening up new opportunities.

广东产业为什么总能“无中生有”？

江门并不盛产咖啡豆，却“长”出了一个年产值超30亿元的“咖啡王国”；汕头不曾规模化肉牛养殖，却把牛肉火锅做成了城市名片；揭阳不产玉石，却拥有亚洲规模最大、档次最高的玉器翡翠加工基地和贸易市场；中山没有红木原生资源，却培育了全国标杆性红木产业集群；东莞鲜有产茶，却被誉为“中国藏茶之都”……透视广东产业“无中生有”的底层逻辑，我们看到的不仅是一座座城市的突围，更是一个经济大省对现代产业规律的深刻洞察与生动实践。

传统产业思维，讲究的是“有什么资源做什么产业”。有矿才能炼钢，有棉才能纺纱，比的是自然禀赋。但广东的这些“无中生有”，恰恰跳出了这个逻辑。

江门咖啡就是最鲜活的例子。江门汇聚了巴西、埃塞俄比亚、哥伦比亚等主要产地的300多种精品咖啡生豆，年进口额超3000万元；全市拥有21家获证烘焙企业，年产能超1万吨，出口量占全国的20%；全市有超过350家咖啡设备及零配件企业，全国约四成的不锈钢咖啡器具产自江门、每五台出口咖啡机就有一台产自江门。当别的地方还在盯着种咖啡豆、开咖啡馆的机会，江门早就瞄准了生豆跨境贸易、智能烘焙加工以及精密设备制造，这些是产业链上附加值更高的环节，也是站稳产业C位的关键。

长期以来，广东特别是珠三角地区形成了高度专业化的分工与紧密协作的产业网络，制造业门类齐全、配套能力完善。这种体系化优势，使新技术能够迅速嵌入既有产业结构，让“无中生有”成为可能。

广东产业的“无中生有”，最终靠的是“人”。广东“七山一水两分田”，自然禀赋并不突出，正是这些有限的资源条件，淬炼出广东人不困于现状、不拘于定式、善于整合资源、敢于开拓新机的生存智慧与商业魄力。

文｜李妹妍
译｜郑奕玲
英文审校｜曾敏