At the 3rd Caoxian County Hanfu Culture Festival, 160 business and 320 brand names revealed more than 600 spring/summer designs over three days.
Behind the spectacle lies something bigger: a strong industry and a once-quiet town sewing together custom, industry and revitalization.Caoxian, a little county in Heze City, east Chinas Shandong Province, had never understood fame until social networks reworded its story.
In 2021, a local vlogger recognized as Dashuo on Douyin helped put the county on the map.
Shandong, Heze, Caoxian County super cool, absolutely remarkable.
My baby! he said, revealing the countys awesomeness and his love for his hometown.
Within only a few days after the video, Caoxian County-related videos accumulated 770 million views, catapulting the county into nationwide awareness.
Unlike Zibo, another city in Shandong Province that leveraged the social media-fueled traffic to transform itself into a barbecue tourist hotspot, Caoxian Countys viral popularity didnt equate into a travel boom.
Nevertheless, it has actually subsequently emerged as a hub for the production of Hanfu conventional Han Chinese clothes that has seen a strong revival across the nation in current times.
The county has also become a major rural e-commerce center.
How e-commerce renewed a countyBehind the web buzz, Caoxian County has quietly become the nations largest production hub for performance costumes and Hanfu.Once Shandongs largest labor exporter, Caoxian Countys local farmers in the past ended up being greatly reliant on migrant work as their source of income.
It left towns like Sunzhuang in Caoxian Countys Daji Town with aging populations and unmarried men along with kids left to take care of themselves.
Today, nevertheless, Caoxian Countys villages have actually seen their fortunes profoundly alter.
The altering slogans painted on the walls of villages tell the tale of the changing tide.
Slogans promoting migrant work have actually now been replaced by ones encouraging individuals back home.
Instead of wandering everywhere, get home and open a store on Taobao, states one, describing online shopping platform Taobao.
This shift in state of mind reflects the continuous economic transformation in the county.According to the 2022 Caoxian County E-Commerce Development Report, the viral appeal of the mamianqun (horse-face skirt) throughout China spurred the launch of 12,000 brand-new online stores and produced 50,000 direct job opportunity across the county, with returning rural youth comprising 60 percent of the recently used labor force.
The typical age of those operating in the regional e-commerce sector has dropped by five years due to the return of more youthful business owners.
Within just a decade, Caoxian Countys GDP has skyrocketed from 12.2 billion yuan (about $1.7 billion) to 46.4 billion yuan (about $6.4 billion), while the number of Taobao villages has actually grown to 151.
What started as a demand for studio and performance outfits has progressed into a total commercial chain centered in Daji Town from initial design and material processing to logistics and sales.Riding the wave of web popularity to change itself from a costume producer to Chinas Hanfu powerhouse is a wise relocation for Caoxian County, Dong Chenyu, associate teacher at the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China, informed CGTN.
Walk through Caoxian County today, and youll see 2 dominant stores: Hanfu shops and live-streaming devices suppliers.
The county has actually entirely rebranded itself around these twin industries.
The production model has likewise modernized without losing its roots.
Where factories once operated behind stores ( front shop, back factory ), they now sit behind live-streaming studios.
Enormous Hanfu display screen halls stand beside rows of soundproof streaming cubicles where hosts showcase their latest styles.
This isnt a new economic model, Professor Dong noted, Theyve just upgraded their conventional production system by plugging live commerce into the existing supply chain.
By combining manufacturing with digital marketing, Caoxian County turned a niche clothing trend into a sustainable local industry, showing how rural China can transform itself through smart adaptation.
Shandong Province might be called the birthplace of Confucius and Mencius, but its also surprisingly attuned to internet culture, stated Professor Dong.
It not only knows how to create traffic but also how to turn it into genuine commercial worth, benefiting workers and changing local economies.
Thats what makes Caoxian Countys design so exceptional.
Beyond Hanfu, the county has shown sharp market instincts and entrepreneurial drive in performance costume production, a success likewise attributed to e-commerce development and government support.A systemic design of rural revitalizationAt E-Shang Town, the countys digital economy commercial park, Liu Xia, deputy director of Caoxian Countys E-Commerce Service Center, described that their design centers around farmer entrepreneurship, supported by e-commerce and federal government policies.In todays extremely established livestreaming industry, it is tough for regional specific farmers to find ways to stick out from the competitors.
Merely fragmented training or livestream devices circulation alone can not produce any sustainable design, Professor Dong informed CGTN.The genuine option lies in methodically arranging rural workforce for enterprise-level operations, which requires tripartite synergy: top-down government preparation, business-driven commercialization, and exact alignment with rural requirements, he pointed out.A tradition of reinventionCaoxian Countys capability, nevertheless, to adjust isnt recently established.
Long before Hanfu went viral, the county was already known for woodcraft specifically coffin-making.
Ninety percent of the caskets sold in Japan were made in Caoxian County.
Today, that same craftsmanship powers its transition to producing furniture, fashion and even livestream studio sets.Caoxian Countys rise to popularity might only occur after its local markets and cultural confidence were cultivated and brought to light.
I securely believe that such cultural self-confidence can just emerge when our political and financial structures are steadily improving, Professor Dong said.Tradition meets digital boomAs Chinese traditional culture takes pleasure in a revival, Hanfu has actually become a favorite amongst the youth.
Such trends have actually sustained explosive development in Caoxian Countys Hanfu industry.In 2020, facing diminishing need for efficiency costumes, producers in Caoxian County rotated to Hanfu production, activating a commercial upgrade.
By 2023, fueled by Chinas cultural tourist boom, the industry began witnessing explosive growth, with yearly Hanfu sales exceeding 7.2 billion yuan (about $990 million).
The year 2024 marked a brand-new turning point as the mamianqun ended up being a viral sensation, moving overall yearly profits to 12 billion yuan (about $1.66 billion).
The sudden popularity of the mamianqun sent factories rushing to meet need.
Orders came in like whips, pushing us to ramp up production, recalled Yao Chixing, a basic manager of the biggest Hanfu maker at Caoxian County.
A hundred workers werent enough.
At its peak before the Chinese New Year, our daily online sales struck six figures.
We planned to stock up for the vacation, but our fabric went out before Chinese New Years Eve.
Though Caoxian County boasts a reasonably total supply chain, conference massive demand remains an obstacle.
Every step from material sourcing to factory equipment deals with bottlenecks, Yao noted.
This year, we intend to develop a totally integrated assembly line, finishing garments completely in-house.
Yaos manufacturer has actually executed Chinas very first devoted digital assembly line for traditional garments a smart manufacturing system that adapts to develop variations while nearly doubling production output.Its not just about speed.
The designers are reimagining love in material literally.
At Yaos workshop, peony scent is stitched into the garments, and the fragrance remains for up to 2 years.