Man in E China's Anhui helps boost sales of ancient Xuan paper online

Li Chao works on a cultural and creative product at a company workshop in Jingxian county, Xuancheng city, east China's Anhui Province. (Photo courtesy of Li Chao)

Born in 1988, Li spent 10 years learning the traditional craft of making Xuan paper and boosting sales of the paper online. Xuan paper is an ideal material for traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting art.

Jingxian county in Xuancheng city, east China's Anhui Province is a major source of Xuan paper. Li, from a village in Jingxian county, came up with the idea of selling Xuan paper online when he was studying outside his hometown.

After graduating from college in 2010, Li returned to his hometown. The first thing he did was to learn to make Xuan paper. It takes 108 steps to make Xuan paper, and Li spent more than one year learning all skills, including looking for raw materials, pulping, drying paper and cutting paper.

In the summer of 2011, Li opened a store on online marketplace Taobao. However, due to his unfamiliarity with e-commerce, his products didn't sell very sell.

In the same year, Li went to Hangzhou city in east China's Zhejiang Province to learn about e-commerce. He spent more than a year doing market research. Thanks to these efforts, his shop started to gain popularity. In July 2012, Li opened a company and built a Xuan paper brand.

In April 2023, a round paper fan designed by Li's team became a popular product. The fans, with paintings and poems on them, were seen in the hands of many young people when they posed for pictures in scenic areas. The industrial chain centering on round fans made of Xuan paper has helped nearly 200 people find jobs in Jingxian county.

Li's company has close to 80 suppliers, including cooperatives, start-ups run by college graduates, and self-employed households.

Under Li's influence, more than 500 households in Jingxian county have opened shops online, with most of them being located in Dingjiaqiao township, one of the major places that produce Xuan paper.

By the end of 2022, the number of business entities in an e-commerce cluster in Dingjiaqiao township had exceeded 1,600, up 201 percent from 2020. The town delivers more than 5 million e-commerce orders for Xuan paper a year, and the annual revenue from Xuan paper sales online has reached 500 million yuan ($69.64 million).