Small Chinese town produces one third of world’s educational toys

Sales of educational toys from Qiaoxia town in Yongjia county, east China’s Zhejiang Province have taken off as a result of the digital wave.

The town, dubbed the “capital of educational toys,” began producing educational tools in the 1970s.

In recent years, with digitalization making online trade easier and more efficient, orders for educational toys received by the town have skyrocketed. Each day, over 30,000 units are shipped from the town to destinations around the world.

Seeing the boom in the industry, more and more people have started their own businesses, some even becoming leading figures in the industry. As a result, an entire industrial chain integrating research and development, manufacturing and sales has been developed.

Zhang Changchun is one of the entrepreneurs. He came back to his hometown after graduating from university and now runs an online educational toy store with his wife.

Zhang Changchun packs toys before shipping them. (People’s Daily Online/courtesy of the interviewee)

During this year's "Double Eleven," a Chinese shopping festival that falls on November 11 each year, Zhang saw explosive growth in the orders he received.

He attributed this growth to the algorithms used by online e-commerce platforms, which matched merchants with potential customers, as well as the favorable policies tailored by the platforms for small- and medium-sized educational toy manufacturers in Yongjia, which have helped build fast and effective channels between the manufacturers and the national market.

Chen Cheng checks educational toys produced by his company. (People’s Daily Online/courtesy of the interviewee)

Chen Cheng is another local entrepreneur. He started his online business with his friends after graduating from university eight years ago.

Chen's online business performed satisfactorily during the “Double Eleven” this year, with the order volume increasing by over 20 percent year on year.

Bringing his business online has helped Chen reduce operation costs and introduced his new products to consumers around the country.

Chen said that growing production and sales have expanded his enterprise, provided jobs for local communities, and also spurred him to improve his service capabilities.

"Online platforms have specific requirements for merchants. For instance, they require quick-response customer services and a complete after-sale service mechanism, which helps merchants raise their service quality and improves the shopping experience for consumers," Chen said.

Today, Yongjia county, which is home to over 800 educational toy manufacturers and supporting enterprises, generates an annual output of $980 million.

Educational toys manufactured in the county have made their way to over 100 countries and regions. Their production and sales account for 60 percent of the total in China and 30 percent of the world’s total.