E-commerce, returnees fuel Caoxian's thriving Hanfu industry

Hanfu, or traditional Chinese dress, from Caoxian county in east China's Shandong Province, has become increasingly popular at home and abroad in recent years.

Caoxian has been developing its performance costume industry for more than a decade, establishing a solid foundation for the growth of its Hanfu sector.

Thanks to online sales and e-commerce, Caoxian's share of the Hanfu market within China has reached 40 percent in recent years.

Caoxian's total sales of Hanfu exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) in 2023, according to statistics. Since the beginning of this year, online sales of Hanfu in the county have reached 1.98 billion yuan, a remarkable increase of 90.8 percent year on year.

Young talents returning home have been crucial to the success of Caoxian's Hanfu sector.

A livestreamer promotes traditional Chinese Hanfu clothing at the Youaiyuncang Hanfu base in Caoxian county, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

"If the local industrial cluster contributes to Caoxian's advantages of low cost and quick delivery in the Hanfu industry, then the young people returning to their hometowns have quickly strengthened the sales, design, and operational aspects, helping to promote brand building and high-quality development," said Li Zilei, head of the Youaiyuncang Hanfu base in Caoxian.

Li, who is also an overseas returnee, said that over 300 people, including livestreamers and operational staff, have started their own businesses at the base.

The base boasts an exhibition and sales center, a logistics center, a design center, and nearly 100 rooms for livestreaming. It even features an intelligent production line for making Hanfu, which helps improve the quality of the local industry.

More and more highly educated people are returning to the county to work or start businesses. Currently, there are three people with Ph.D.s, nearly 100 with master's degrees, and almost 10,000 college graduates engaged in Caoxian's e-commerce industry. In recent years, the county has attracted 50,000 people to come back and start their own businesses, creating over 350,000 jobs in the e-commerce industry.

Over the past years, Caoxian has also established several new offices and mechanisms to improve the business environment and facilitate the development of the e-commerce and Hanfu industries.

"To avoid homogeneous competition, the county established the Caoxian Hanfu Association to help Hanfu manufacturers develop cooperation mechanisms with design firms and universities, encouraging companies to build their own brands," said Hu Chunqing, president of the association.

To protect independent innovation, the county set up an intellectual property rights service center, cutting the processing time for patent applications from 180 days to 10 days.