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E China's Qingdao becomes world's false eyelash hub

(People's Daily Online) 15:48, June 02, 2021

Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong province, has witnessed booming development in its false eyelash and high-end wig manufacturing sectors, creating an export value of billions of yuan a year.

Pingdu city in Qingdao is home to a total of 5,000 registered eyelash producers, of which the number currently engaged in lash-related production, processing and trade exceeds 1,000, with a total production value of 7 billion yuan (about $1 billion).

(Photo/qingdaonews.com)

In addition, the output of fake eyelashes in Pingdu accounts for 80 percent of the national total and 70 percent of the global total, respectively.

Among them, Changle district of Dazeshan town, one of the largest eyelash producing centers in Pingdu, is filled with specialized stores that sell related semi-finished or peripheral products. Although lash producers in the district are dominated by family workshops, there has also been an emergence of modern modes of production.

In a newly established eyelash manufacturing enterprise of Changle district, a standardized production environment featuring workers in uniform and clean working tables ensures maximum product quality and stability.

In addition to an improvement of product quality, some producers have turned to new designs as a means of enhancing product value. For instance, Deng Xiaojun, a post-90s man who has been working in the field for more than a decade, applied for the first patent for a false eyelash related invention in 2015, boosting the price of a lash product that originally sold for 5 yuan by 3-4 yuan.

Today, Deng's company, which rolls out an average of 100 types of new products annually, has seen increased profitability in its patent-protected products.

In addition to fake eyelashes, Qingdao is also emerging as a major cradle of high-end human hair products, meeting 40 percent of global demand.

Ligezhuang, a suburban town of Qingdao with an area of just 75.8 square kilometers, is home to a total of more than 300 hair product manufacturers, creating jobs for 12,000 people with an annual output value of 2.8 billion yuan last year.

According to Ye Jingming, head of a hair products company in Jiaozhou city, Shandong province, after setting up their own websites and brands, their sales mode of hair products has transformed from being one of sole reliance on third-party cross-border e-commerce platforms to one that involves customized sales to high-end terminal consumers. 

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)

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