Abstract: Standard coal method and calorific value method are used to measure the carbon emission level of China's manufacturing subsectors. The impact of global value chain embedment on carbon emission of China's manufacturing industry is investigated by using the global value chain embedment index of manufacturing industry in UIBE global value chain Index database and the panel data of sub-manufacturing sector from 2007 to 2020. It is found that global value chain embedding significantly reduces the carbon emission level of manufacturing sector, and simple global value chain embedding can reduce the carbon emission level of manufacturing sector more than complex global value chain embedding. The effects of simple global value chain and complex global value chain embedment on carbon emissions of manufacturing industry show obvious sectoral heterogeneity. Participation in simple global value chain division can significantly reduce carbon emissions in low and medium technology manufacturing sector, while participation in complex global value chain division in high technology manufacturing sector can significantly reduce carbon emissions. The conclusions of this paper provide policy implications for the low-carbon transformation of China's manufacturing industry under the background of global value chain division.