Abstract:A phased combing of research on manufacturing transformation and upgrading will help to grasp the research context of this topic. Based on the knowledge map theory and the core journals of this topic in CNKI from 1998 to 2018, Citespace knowledge map analysis software was used to draw the co-existing map of the authors, the co-occurrence map of the organizations and the keyword evolution map, and the research hotspots, evolutionary contexts and research frontiers of manufacturing transformation and upgrading have been summarized. The research shows that the authors' cooperation relationship and research institutions' cooperation network are not tight seperately; the core research hotspots include industrial upgrading, comparative advantage, global value chain, equipment manufacturing, servitization of manufacturing, production service, innovation drive and technological innovation,etc. The evolutionary context is conducted in the mode of “starting → diversification → vertical deepening”; intelligent manufacturing, the new normal, and the manufacturing transformation and upgrading in the scenario of supply-side structural reform have become the frontiers of research.