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Huangbu: Fishing Town Grows to Big Shoe Exporter
Since the first shoe-making factory was set up by a Hong Kong businessman in Huangbu in the early 1980s, the silent fishing town in south China's Guangdong Province has been turned into a major shoe exporters in China.
Reinaldo, a Brazilian technical consultant with the US Pararmount Co., has come to Huangbu for three months, and has found the place likable.
He is awoken by the earliest train to the company every morning, spends a busy working day and goes to the beach for a walk or swim after work.
"Sometimes it is a quiet small town, and sometimes it is a bustling workshop. It is up-to-date with the world's most fashionable trends. It is a most enjoyable and lively place," said Reinaldo.
The town's shoe industry turned out 1.3 billion yuan worth of output value last year with 60 percent of its products for export.
Shoes made in Huangbu have been mainly exported via Hong Kong and Taiwan, which used to be the principal shoe re-export markets for Chinese-made shoes.
However, more shoes are going directly into diversified international sales networks through foreign trade companies, while foreigners with different skin colors and accents are seen busy calling door to door in Huangbu to look for shoe samples.
The slickest building in Huangbu is the office compound of the Jianghua Shoe Making Co. and its three foreign partners -- Merry Asia from Japan, Betastar from India and Paramount from the United States.
With an annual output of 4 million pairs of shoes, Jianghua makes all of its products for export. Manager Lin Yunjin, son of a native fisherman, has brought in five state-of-the-art shoe-making production lines all controlled by computers.
There are plenty of products to choose from for foreign trade agents in Huangbu, which has over 660 shoe makers.
The manager of the Xindali Trade Co. is known by locals as A- Zhong, nickname for his Chinese name Chen Jinzhong. The Israeli man of his 30s comes to the town nearly once a month. He recently placed a series of orders for 200,000 pairs of women's shoes in Huangbu, which are to be sent to the Middle East and North Europe.
China is the world's largest shoe-making country with an annual output of 3.6 billion pairs of shoes.
"With the country's upcoming accession into the World Trade Organization, the big manufacturing country will have more potential markets for its products," said Mak Hong Weng, manager of a Malaysian company, who has done business in Huangbu for three years.
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