"Breaking The Circle" Of Hanfu To Drive Economic "Expanding The Circle" -- Decoding The "Cao County Path" Of High-Quality Development Of County Economy

The staff from Cao County, Shandong Province introduced the production process of horse face skirt to the Korean people at the 2024 South Korean promotion activity of "Hospitality Shandong Good Product Shandong". Photographed by reporter Yao Qilin

On September 26, 2023, in the "Shandong Handmade" boutique exhibition area of the 9th Nishan World Civilization Forum, participants introduced the works of Caozhou Noodles, a national intangible cultural heritage. Photographed by Guo Xulei

Since this year, more than 10 topics of "Caoxian horse dress in short supply", "college students returning to Caoxian to sell hanfu", and "Caoxian hanfu going global" have been on the hot search list of social media and news portal websites, with a communication volume of hundreds of millions. With the rapid increase of the market share of Hanfu, Caoxian County, Shandong Province has not only become the center of the "Hanfu universe", but also driven the economic "circle expansion" by the "circle breaking" of Hanfu, built a development pattern of "promoting industry with culture", and explored a "Caoxian path" for high-quality development of county economy.

Cultural confidence drives the popularity of Han suits in Caoxian

The off-season is not light, and the production and sales are booming, which is what the reporter felt when visiting the Han clothing merchants in Caoxian County. In a newly built factory in Huozhuang Village, Ancialou Town, Caoxian County, 4 jacquard machines are in operation. An Peng, general manager of Shandong Huaqianyue Textile Co., Ltd., said that he was too busy to sleep before 1 a.m.

At the beginning of this year, there was a big sale of horse face skirt. Under huge orders, the supply of horse face skirt fabric was in short supply. "Customers always deliver orders to customers". In April this year, Anpeng purchased 6 sets of jacquard machines and plans to supply 22 sets of jacquard machines in the next three years. He told the reporter: "Now the machine operates 24 hours a day, and the workers work in two shifts. We are arranging to stock up in advance."

Consumers know best whether the product is good or not. In the exhibition hall of Han clothing in Caoxian County, there are often some new styles without labels. "This is one of the new products of this summer. Once it was launched, the supply fell short of demand, and so far it has not been named." Li Zilei, the head of You'ai Joint Venture Base, introduced that this dress is made of imitation acetic acid fabric. Compared with the traditional horseface skirt, it has no wrinkles, is thinner, and has a stronger sense of pendency. It is suitable for women consumers of all ages to wear daily.

When we entered Caoxian Daji Town, there were few vacant storefronts on both sides of the road, and shops for cloth sales, garment plate making, tailoring, digital printing, express logistics and other businesses were crowded for several kilometers. Thanks to the development of performance clothing industry for more than 10 years, Caoxian has formed a sophisticated and complete market division with families as the unit.

"Cao County has a permanent resident population of more than 1.35 million, which is one of the counties with the largest population in Shandong Province. It was once the largest county in labor export in Shandong. More than a decade ago, villagers tried to produce special clothes such as studio clothes and performance clothes, and sold them everywhere. Although there was a certain market, its market share was limited until they inadvertently knocked on the door of e-commerce, and the clothing industry gained wings." Sun Xueping, General Party Branch Secretary of Sunzhuang Village, Daji Town, introduced.

Driven by the market, Cao County, famous for the production and sales of performance clothes, has turned to the production of Han style clothes. Hu Chunqing, head of Caoxian Chenfei Clothing Co., Ltd. and chairman of Caoxian Hanfu Association, said that within 5 kilometers of Daji Town, Ancialou Town and surrounding towns in Caoxian County, all supporting facilities, from plate making, cloth, cutting to printing, sewing, and ready to wear, were gathered.

The industry clusters in villages and towns, achieving the advantages of low cost and fast shipment of Han clothing in Caoxian. "This asset light entrepreneurship model, as long as you dare, everyone can start." Yan Deyin, one of the earliest practitioners of Hanfu in An Cailou Town, said that his team has more than 10 people to start businesses independently, "which is equivalent to training more than a dozen bosses."

On the rural wall, slogans such as "running around, better go home to Taobao", "opening online stores to sell the world, and e-commerce clothing to make millions of families rich" replaced the past "do not love their hometown, go out to work to earn a lot of money", "one goes out to work, and the whole family gets out of poverty and become rich". Under the influence of e-commerce, Caoxian has undergone a turning change, not only rising the complete industrial chain of garment processing, but also rapidly occupying the domestic market. According to statistics, in the first half of the year, Caoxian Hanfu's online sales reached 4.06 billion yuan, an increase of 18%, and its market share accounted for more than 50% of the country.

In the past, Han style clothing was a niche product, and there were not a few that sold for more than 1000 yuan. Today, the cost of a suit of Han clothing in Caoxian County ranges from 100 yuan to 300 yuan, which solves the problem that students and young people cannot afford to wear Han clothing.

Cultural confidence, clothing first. Li Jie, executive member of the Academic Committee of China Fashion Designers Association and president of the Fashion College of Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts, believes that behind the popularity of the Han style clothing in Caoxian County, the new Chinese style clothing, including Han style clothing, is in the rising stage of development, and the traditional Chinese clothing is being modernized. After the material life is gradually satisfied, people's spiritual needs for national culture and national self-confidence are rising.

"Promoting industry through literature" has become a trend

Caoxian is known as "the founding place of Shangtang and the first capital of China". In memory of the Yuan Sheng Memorial Tomb of Yi Yin, a famous minister of the Shang Dynasty who was "counterattacked" by a slave chef, located in the big market town in the south of the county; Fan Li, the "ancestor of the Shang Dynasty", had been doing business in Dingtao in the north of Caoxian County all the year round and was buried here. In Caoxian County, which has a long history and profound cultural heritage, the traditional culture related industrial cluster led by the Hanfu industry has developed rapidly.

"We focus on inheriting articles and realizing the transformation from 'fingertip skills' to' fingertip economy '." Wang Qian, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Caoxian County Committee and head of publicity, said that Caoxian County is rich in traditional handicraft resources, including 3 national intangible cultural heritage items and 53 provincial and municipal intangible cultural heritage items. These non legacy handicrafts have shown new charm in the new era and become a new carrier for people to increase their income and become rich.

Caoxian Jiangmi People, a national intangible cultural heritage project, is a hand sculpture art with flour, glutinous rice flour, etc. as the main raw materials, and has expanded from a single animal shape to a variety of shapes such as figures, flowers, birds, insects, fish, etc. In the past, the business of Jiangmi people in Caoxian County was very good, and the local people used the saying "one shoulder pole, two ropes, and no poverty when traveling around the world" to describe the booming business.

The development of a skill cannot be separated from inheritance, let alone innovation. "At first, Caoxian Jiangmi people only had the basic style of 'signing and holding', and only used a bamboo stick as the base, which was convenient for craftsmen to sell in the streets, but it was not suitable for the current market." said Yang Jihua, the fifth generation successor of Caoxian Jiangmi people, "We combine sculpture skills with the production of Jiangmi people, integrating tools such as knives, scissors and combs into the production, and exploring a variety of molding methods such as kneading, kneading, cutting, picking, pressing, sticking and pasting. Several inheritors formed a team to constantly innovate the process, developed a case based Jiangmi people, and became famous in the art market; With the help of the government, we have also broken through the bottlenecks of production, preservation and transportation. We have set up studios, processing plants, online stores and international exhibitions to drive more people to inherit skills and expand employment. " Today, Caoxian Rice Noodle People earn an annual income of 4 million yuan, and four works have been collected by UNESCO.

Shandong Caoxian Yunlong Wood Carving Technology Co., Ltd., located in Sunlaojia Town, Caoxian County, is a national intangible cultural heritage unit of Caoxian Wood Carving. In the exhibition hall of the "Threefold Innovation Center", there are a variety of hand carved Buddha statues, wood carved screens and various furniture carving and decoration components. Over the past 20 years, the Caoxian wood carving technique has "spread branches and leaves". Cai Xiufang, chairman of Yunlong Wood Carving Company and Caoxian National Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor of Wood Carving, has brought more than 300 craftsmen. Caoxian wood carving has developed from a family handed craft to a symbolic cultural symbol of Heze and one of the pillar industries of the county.

In Caoxian County, known as the "Capital of Wooden Arts in China", the industrial structure of forest processing has been continuously optimized, and a development pattern of "one park, two cores, and multiple districts" has been formed, with an annual output value exceeding 100 billion yuan. According to the person in charge of Caoxian Industry and Information Technology Bureau, "One Park" is the Caoxian Home Furnishing Industry Demonstration Park; The "two cores" include the core area of plank and furniture in the west of the city, mainly Zhuangzhai Town, and the core area of wooden crafts in the north of the city, mainly Pulian Market Town and Qinghe Street; "Multi zone" refers to Qingdangji Miscellaneous Wood Processing Zone, Guyingji Qitiao Processing Zone, Shaozhuang Curved Wood Processing Zone and Niji Crafts Taobao Gathering Zone.

It is reported that in recent years, the local party committee and government have guided Caoxian wood carving and grass willow weaving to adapt to the global market demand, strengthen creative development, layout cross-border e-commerce, and actively create blockbuster products. At present, Caoxian is the only cross-border e-commerce industrial belt of wood products in China, of which Caoxian coffin industry accounts for 90% of the market in Japan. More than 30000 kinds of wood crafts, wood carvings, grass and willow weaving products are exported to more than 60 countries and regions, with a total output value of more than 10 billion and more than 100000 people's employment.

Take advantage of talent advantages to protect the business environment

The "counterattack" of Caoxian County in Shandong is remarkable: more than 10 years ago, Caoxian County was an economic depression and a provincial-level poverty-stricken county in Shandong Province. Now it has changed. Its GDP ranks first in Heze City, and it also ranks among the top 100 counties in terms of agricultural product digitization and the top 100 counties in terms of county economic investment potential. Relying on the characteristic industries such as original Han clothing, performance clothing, wood products and agricultural products, Caoxian has formed its own business card throughout the country.

Experts believe that Caoxian's access to the Internet is like a catalyst, which makes the commercial consciousness accumulated in history, the pioneering spirit of the people, the pragmatic innovation of the government and the traditional competitive industries react chemically, forming the momentum of human vitality and industrial innovation, and constantly promoting the high-quality development of the county economy and the revitalization of villages and towns.

——Develop a "capable economy" to stimulate the power of industrial upgrading. Cao County is located in the southwest of Shandong Province and at the junction of Shandong and Henan, with a registered population of 1.69 million. It is the largest human resource county in Shandong Province. In recent years, Caoxian has spared no effort to attract "capable people" to return to their hometown, make good use of "capable people", encourage "capable people" to take the lead, and a group of "development leaders, industry leaders, and rural intellectuals" have accelerated the economic development of Caoxian County.

Like Sun Xueping, the "model worker in Shandong Province" who led the villagers to develop e-commerce economy, Li Jianlu, secretary of the general party branch of Li Bazhuang Village, Wang Yunying, secretary of the party branch of Wang Shanzhuang Village, Ancailou Town, Wei Xiang'an, secretary of the party branch of Huoshentai Village, and a group of other leaders who became rich took the post of the village party organization with the support of the villagers and became the vanguard of the rural revitalization of Caoxian County.

"If the agglomeration of industries has made the advantages of Caoxian Hanfu, the return of young people will quickly strengthen the sales, design, operation and other links, and boost the development of branding and quality." Li Zilei, who returned home from studying abroad, said that You'ai Joint Venture Base has attracted more than 300 anchors, operators and other personnel, including exhibition, logistics, design center and nearly 100 live studios, It also introduced the Kaos intelligent manufacturing hanfu production line to promote the high-quality development of the hanfu industry with data and technology. Huang Xiaoyan, the "post-85", has worked in the south for more than 10 years, and now he is the manager of the cloud warehouse of Cao County through the Tang Dynasty Hanfu. She said: "Although she works in a township, she is close to the market and has a very fast pace. Every day, there is a continuous stream of customers."

More and more highly educated talents regard returning home for entrepreneurship and employment as their first choice. At present, Caoxian has 3 highly educated talents engaged in e-commerce, nearly 100 masters, and nearly 10000 college students. In recent years, Caoxian has attracted 50000 people to return to their hometown and start businesses, driving 350000 people to engage in e-commerce industry.

——Business environment innovation revitalizes private economy. The "landing office" to ensure the implementation of key project construction, the "e-commerce office" to guide the development of e-commerce industry, and the "business to business" to improve the business environment... In view of the rapid development of e-commerce economy, Cao County has innovated and launched a number of new institutions and mechanisms in recent years to open up a "green channel" for industrial development. In addition, Caoxian County has also planned to build e-Shang Town · Caoxian Digital Economy Industrial Park, rural e-commerce industry demonstration area centered on Daji Town and e-Shang City · China (Caoxian County) Huafu Smart City. The high-quality development pattern of "one park", "one district" and "one city" of e-commerce in Caoxian County is speeding up.

Hu Chunqing said that in order to avoid homogeneous competition, Caoxian established the Hanfu Association to help Hanfu manufacturers establish cooperation mechanisms with design institutions, colleges and universities, and encourage enterprises to build their own brands; In order to protect independent innovation, Caoxian has set up a special intellectual property rights rapid protection center, which has shortened the processing time of patent applications from the traditional 180 days to 10 days.

"Our goal to create a business environment is to do things without asking people, to be predictable in the future, to be convenient and efficient," said Zhao Fulong, secretary of the CPC Caoxian County Committee. Today, Caoxian has become one of the most active places of private economy in the north, with more than 140000 business entities. According to the permanent population, it is equivalent to one business entity in 10 people, and one enterprise in about 30 people. Small and medium-sized enterprises are "overwhelming".

According to preliminary statistics, in the first half of this year, Caoxian County is expected to achieve a regional GDP of 32.53 billion yuan, ranking first in Heze City, with a year-on-year growth of 6.2%. Local people believe that Cao County, based on the cultural "two innovation", relying on the advantages of cultural resources, adhere to the realistic and pragmatic thinking, and adjust measures to local conditions, so that the industry can enrich the people and be full of vitality, only then changed from "temporary popularity" to "long-term popularity", and embarked on the road of high-quality development. (Reporter Wang Yang participated in the gathering and writing: Yang Yifeng)

(Source: Economic Information Daily)