It's not an advantage that China can maintain though, hence the movement upwards. China, and other countries like that, was cheap because they were underdeveloped and the goals/wants of their population were minimal. But now some of the highest home prices in the world are in Shanghai. Many of China's coastal cities have gotten wealthy and China's remaining source of cheap labor are in the interior cities, hence the development of major railways into the interior, etc. But everyone knows how that story is going to go. The interior cities will also become wealthy and then the last remaining source of cheap manual labor will dry up. Making your people wealthier and moving up the value chain are good goals but once you get there you need to switch. which is what China is preparing for.