China News Service, Shaanxi Ankang, February 10th: The "Birth Story" of 250,000 "Long Chenchen": The plush toy industry helps Qinba Mountain City "rebirth"
Author Li Yifan and Zhang Yichen
On the New Year's Eve that just passed, the image of the Spring Festival Gala mascot "Long Chenchen" with the beautiful meaning of "good luck, peace and happiness" attracted the attention of many audiences. A few days ago, in the Shaanxi Ankang Hengkou Demonstration Zone in the hinterland of Qinba, thousands of "Long Chenchen" plush toys were queued up and "born" in an orderly manner on the production line. In addition to jumping onto the Spring Festival Gala stage, they also walked into Thousands of households in China are traveling to Thailand, Myanmar and other countries to bring joy and joy to the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon.
The picture shows workers making "Long Chenchen" plush toys in the Hengkou Demonstration Zone in Ankang, Shaanxi. Photo by Xiong Tao
It is understood that the mascot image of the 2024 Year of the Dragon Spring Festival Gala "Long Chenchen" has attracted widespread attention from the society as soon as it was unveiled. The image draws design elements from many cultural relics such as He Zun of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Cloud Pattern Bronze Banner, and the Tang Dynasty gilt dragon. It not only contains the meaning and beauty of the zodiac dragon in traditional culture, but also shows the high-spirited spirit of the Chinese people.
"I think the dragon is a more abstract and complex image among the twelve zodiac signs. In order to transform 'Long Chenchen' from a flat image into a three-dimensional and spiritual plush toy, I and the members of the design team designed more than 20 versions of the plan. Finally, We chose a version with brighter eyebrows and brighter colors, using high-density diamond velvet for fabric and penetration printing technology for coloring." said Xiong Yan, cultural and creative design director of the five major centers of the plush toy cultural and creative industry in Ankang City.
The picture shows workers rushing to make "Long Chenchen" plush toys. Photo by Xiong Tao
"The workers worked overtime to make the 'Long Chenchen' plush toy. The process is more complicated, three to four times that of other ordinary toys. It is completed after printing and dyeing, cutting, embroidery, sewing, cotton filling and other processes." Ankang Li Jianmei, general manager of Heng'an Toys Co., Ltd., said that he received a production order for 250,000 "Long Chenchen" in mid-December 2023. Because the factory has complete facilities and most of the employees are women living nearby, the order was successfully completed.
From design to production, the "birth story" of 250,000 "Long Chenchen" was completely written in the Qinba Mountains. In recent years, plush toys such as the Winter Olympics mascots "Bingdundun" and "Xuerongrong", the Universiade mascots "Rongbao", the Asian Games mascots "Congcong", "Lianlian" and "Chenchen" have successively emerged from the market. The Qinba Mountains have come into public view, and the plush toy industry has become the focus of attention for Shaanxi Ankang.
Ankang City, Shaanxi Province is located in the hinterland of Qinba. Photo by Li Yifan
Underdevelopment and insufficient openness were once adjectives for health. Six years ago, Ankang had not yet appeared in the territory of China's plush toy industry. Today, Ankang has won the title of "New Capital of China's Plush Toy Industry". Tracing back to its development history, Ankang and the plush toy industry originated from the "seeds" sown by the "Suzhou-Shaanxi Cooperation".
Due to its special geographical location and natural conditions, Ankang City was once the main battlefield for relocation of poverty alleviation in Shaanxi Province. Nearly one million people were relocated, forming a partial enrichment of the labor force in the resettlement community. At the same time, due to factors such as industrial policy adjustments and rising labor costs, some cities in Jiangsu urgently need to "vacate the cage and change the bird" to carry out industrial transfer.
At the end of 2017, after multiple coordination and on-site inspections between Jiangsu and Shaanxi, Ankang City’s first plush toy factory was officially put into operation in Ziyang County. From the request for instructions to the roar of the machine, it took less than 2 months. This city deep in the Qinling Mountains decisively seized new opportunities for development.
"As the first batch of Jiangsu manufacturers to develop in Shaanxi, we are optimistic about the development prospects and will increase investment in building intelligent chemical factories in the future." Li Jianmei from Jiangsu said that she was deeply involved in the "Suzhou-Shaanxi Cooperation" bridge of friendship and development. Construction, quite proud and confident.
The picture shows workers rushing to make "Long Chenchen" plush toys. Photo by Xiong Tao
"Plush toys have a broad consumer market and good development prospects. It is not only a labor-intensive industry, but also an eco-friendly industry with low entry barriers and strong employment absorption capacity. It is highly consistent with Ankang's ecological priority development direction." People from Ankang City Li Wanhua, deputy director of the Social Affairs Bureau, said that the local government has focused on providing one-stop "butler-style" services to merchants, organizing companies to participate in the Canton Fair, the Western Sourcing Expo, etc., and visiting plush toy companies in Germany, Austria and other countries to help companies explore domestic and international markets. .
At present, the city has a total of 807 plush toys (socks) production and operation sites (sites), employing 19,848 people, including 4,429 people who have been lifted out of poverty. It has achieved an output value of 6.105 billion yuan, and its products are exported to more than 80 countries and regions including Japan and the United States. .
The picture shows workers making stuffed toys. Photo courtesy of Ankang Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department
In the past six years, the Ankang plush toy industry has grown from scratch, grown from small to large, and realized a deep fission from attracting an enterprise to cultivating an industry, forming industries such as creative design, raw and auxiliary material production and wholesale, product processing, and trade sales. Chain closed loop.
The reporter saw in Ankang that there are not only many plush toy companies, but also five major centers for the plush toy cultural and creative industry in Ankang City that provide companies with services such as cultural and creative design, logistics and warehousing, raw and auxiliary material supply, study and cultural tourism, and mass entrepreneurship and innovation incubation. , constantly explore how to improve the technological content of plush toys, and seek innovation and change in aspects such as independent brand IP development, human-computer interaction intelligent plush toys, and cultural and tourism integration.
Ankang also has China's first plush toy themed airport, Fuqiang Airport, a childlike plush toy themed district, irregular plush toy tours, a plush toy cultural and creative town... plush toy culture It fills every corner of the city, highlighting the colorful "rebirth" gained due to the development of the plush toy industry.
Ankang official stated that the current Ankang plush toy industry still has problems such as large fluctuations in orders, a complete but not excellent industrial chain, few independent brands, and low industrial added value. In the future, it will focus on shortcomings and weaknesses, implement precise investment promotion, and comprehensively improve Industrial chain agglomeration and adsorption capacity. By the end of 2026, we strive to have 1,000 plush toy (socks) and industry chain supporting enterprises (sites) in the city, with a comprehensive output value of 10 billion yuan, exports of 1 billion yuan, and employment of more than 30,000 people. (over)