Abstract: Based on export complexity index, this paper compares the export structure of manufacturing products between China and Japan from the aspects of product, industry and country by using 3 digit trade data of Standard International Trade Classification from 1995 to 2014, and analyses the influencing factors of export complexity through ridge regression. The findings show that China’s exports focus on low and medium complexity products while Japan’s on medium and high complexity products in terms of products structure, that human capital, research and development expenditure have obvious significance on both countries while the population size has no obvious effects upon the two countries in terms of influencing factors, and that FDI and improvement trade have significant positive impacts on China, while per capita GDP has prominent and positive impacts upon Japan.

Key words: manufacturing products, export complexity index, ridge regression, influencing factors