Abstract: Based on the theory of intra-product international specialization and the technique of value chain decomposition, this paper carries out an in-depth investigation of the transformation of the role of China in the global production network (GPN) from the aspects of quantity, products and regions. It shows that the role of China in the GPN has transformed from “a processing workshop” into “a production base” or even “a world factory” after over ten years’ efforts in industry upgrading. China has played a dominant role in the GPN of low technology products, but still played a subordinate role in the GPN of medium and high technology products. However, the subordinate degree of China is much smaller than many developing countries and even some high income countries. China acts as an important hinge in regional production networks and links these geographically separate networks into an integrate GPN through the bilateral “triangular trade”. The degree of collaboration with China, “a world factory”, determines the competitiveness of a regional production network to some extent.