The growth path of China’s grain production is determined by agricultural factor endowment change and induced technology change. Based on the 1978—2018 provincal panel data of corn production, this paper studies the changes of factors’ substitution elasticities and identifies whether it has happened labour-saving induced technological change by a logarithm production function. Furtherly, this paper aalso explores the growth path of China’s corn production by the method of single factor productivity and two-dimensional phase diagram. China’s corn production appears to have an obvious tendency of labor saving with regional difference of elasticities of mechanical-labor substitution among Northeast China, Huang-Huai-Hai region, and Western China; while the development trend of its elasticity is cornverging. The growth path of China’s corn production has undergone a historic transformation from land productivity orientation to labor productivity orientation since the 21st century. It is consistant with the third path of replying on improving land productivity to promote labor productivity growth. The implications of the conclusion lie in that it is necessary to promote agricultural mechanization according to local conditions, including strengthening the research of agricultural machinery suitable for mountainous areas, promoting cultivated land suitable for mechanization in hilly and mountainous areas, and developing socialized services of agricultural machinery. At the same time, it is necessary to develop land-saving technologies, including improved seed cultivation, green control of diseases and pests, fertilizer and pestcide reduction, and other biochemical technological progress.