Jinjiang's shoes, Ningde's batteries. How do the people of Fujian always come out on top?

I believe a crucial reason why the term "comeback" has become associated with Fujian is that the people of Fujian are not only willing to venture out but also eager to return.

If you were to ask which provincial story in China's economic landscape most resembles a "rags - to - riches" tale, Fujian would definitely be on the list.

In 1978, Fujian's GDP was only 6.6 billion yuan, ranking 23rd in the country. It was at the bottom among the central and eastern provinces. The per - capita GDP was only 273 yuan, 108 yuan lower than the national average.

However, by 2024, Fujian's GDP had reached 5.77 trillion yuan, an increase of over 800 times. The per - capita GDP reached 138,100 yuan, ranking fourth in the country.

This growth miracle is largely attributed to Fujian's private enterprises.

Today, Fujian's private economy not only contributes over 70% of the province's tax revenue and creates about 70% of the GDP but also has spawned a large number of leading Fujian - based enterprises, which have occupied a prominent position in the Chinese business community.

In this episode, let's talk about Fujian's business comeback.

01

I think most people are familiar with sports products from Anta and Xtep, men's clothing from Qipai, Septwolves, and K - Boxer, and daily necessities like Panpan's small bread, An'erle, and Xinxiangyin (all under Heng'an Group). These are well - known brands that we've worn, used, or heard of.

All these well - known brands come from the same county - level city in Fujian - Jinjiang.

In 1986, the famous sociologist Fei Xiaotong proposed the "Jinjiang Model," which refers to an economic development path characterized by "market - oriented regulation, export - oriented economy, share - cooperative system, and the co - development of multiple economic sectors."

The Jinjiang Model can be seen as a microcosm of Fujian's business comeback.

Before 1978, the per - capita annual income in Chenghai Town, Jinjiang, was only 52 yuan. However, the returning overseas Chinese brought opportunities to the city.

At the beginning of the reform and opening - up, Lin Tuqiu from Chenghai Town, Jinjiang, took the advice of his brother, who had been working in Hong Kong for many years, to "stop farming and start a factory."

The returning overseas Chinese not only brought back a large amount of capital and the popular leather shoes but also showed Lin Tuqiu the opportunity to get rich. So, he firmly established the Yangdai Shoes and Hats Factory to make leather shoes. This enterprise was the predecessor of Aokang.

With leather shoes, Lin Tuqiu earned 80,000 yuan in the first year.

In 1983, sports shoes became a hot commodity in the market. Lin Tuqiu adapted to the trend, and the first pair of sports shoes in Jinjiang was produced in his factory. Word spread quickly. Seeing that one family could make a fortune by selling shoes, local people flocked to follow suit.

The first shot of entrepreneurship in the future "Shoe Capital of China" was fired.

On the north bank of the Wubian River in Chenghai Town, Ding Mingliang and Ding Siqiang from the same village founded Del Hui and Meike respectively. Ding Guoxiong's Qiaodan was also here. Ding Shuibo of Xtep and his sworn brothers each contributed 500 yuan to build a shed by the village stream to make slippers.

On the south bank, Ding Jiantong of 361 Degrees used 2,000 yuan raised from farming, fishing, and odd jobs to set up a family workshop in his living room, which produced five pairs of leather shoes a day. Ding Shizhong of Anta also started here. Xu Jingnan of Peak used his savings from pulling a rickshaw to open a sports shoe factory.

Relying on their own hands, the Jinjiang people who were not content with poverty embarked on the shoe - making path.

In that enthusiastic entrepreneurial era, this small area became the place with the highest density of shoe bosses in China later.

Most of them had similar backgrounds, similar growth experiences, and shared the same entrepreneurial experiences. As the operation mode of "family - joint production, handicraft workshop" shoe factories became popular in Jinjiang, the prototype of the "Jinjiang Model" began to emerge.

By imitating and replicating in product design and business models, the number of family - workshop - style shoe factories in Jinjiang increased rapidly in the 1990s. The sneakers made by Jinjiang's OEM factories were not only popular in major domestic wholesale markets but also exported overseas.

However, the fact that Jinjiang shoes conquered the world does not mean that Jinjiang shoe enterprises conquered the world.

At that time, no one knew or cared who made these high - quality and low - cost sports shoes.

In the 1990s, the early Jinjiang Model encountered its first bottleneck.

In 1987, 17 - year - old Ding Shizhong went north with 600 pairs of shoes. In Beijing, he witnessed that his Jinjiang shoes, which he sold for only 20 yuan, could be resold for 100 yuan after being re - branded by others, with a price difference of five times.

This is the shortcoming of the traditional Jinjiang Model:

Low added value and excessive reliance on overseas orders. The simple model lacks core competitiveness and has no difference from other products in the market. It is easy to fall into vicious competition. If you make a profit of 15 yuan per pair of shoes, I'll make 12 yuan. Eventually, the profit per pair of shoes degenerates to one or two yuan, and no one can make money. All the value is taken by the branding agents.

His experience in Beijing had a huge impact on the young Ding Shizhong. At that moment, he may have finally realized the reason why Jinjiang's small shoe factories worked hard but had meager profits. It turned out that the secret of business lies in that small logo. Without their own logo, they would always be exploited by upstream enterprises and live at the mercy of others.

So, in 1991, he returned to his hometown and founded Anta. Around the same time, brands like Xtep, Peak, and 361 Degrees in Jinjiang also started their businesses one after another.

Creating their own brands was to break through the "old Jinjiang Model" and create a "new Jinjiang Model."

But it was not easy.

Creating a self - owned brand was just like lighting a torch. To create a prairie fire, it was far from enough.

At this moment, Ding Shizhong stood up again. He gambled the whole - year profit of Anta on the Olympic champion Kong Linghui and shouted the slogan: "I choose, I like."

Fortunately, the times did not disappoint the brave Anta. When this slogan was repeatedly heard on CCTV - 5, Anta finally achieved the long - awaited prairie fire.

This showed the fellow Jinjiang people a new direction.

So, they flocked to follow Anta's example and started this marketing war: If you sign an Olympic champion, I'll sign a world champion. If you sign a sports star, I'll find a popular singer. If you sponsor foreign football stars, I'll sponsor large - scale sports events.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Jinjiang enterprises accounted for about 1/4 of the advertising volume on CCTV5, including both sports brands and men's clothing brands. CCTV5 was once called the "Jinjiang Channel."

By then, the Jinjiang people finally stepped from behind the scenes to the front stage. They were no longer just OEM factories but major players, starting to dominate the Chinese business landscape.

02

If Jinjiang's rise represents the resilience of Fujian's traditional manufacturing industry and the courage of Fujian people to venture out.

Then Ningde's comeback represents the foresight and ambition of Fujian people in the face of emerging industries and transformation and upgrading.

Ningde City, formerly known as Eastern Fujian, is located on the golden coastline in the northeastern part of Fujian Province. However, different from Jinjiang, it was a typical "poor, remote, and underdeveloped" area in the past.

In 1985, the per - capita net income of farmers in Ningde was only 330 yuan. Among them, the rural poor population reached 775,000, accounting for about 1/3 of the rural population at that time. Six out of nine counties were identified as national - level poverty - stricken counties, and 52 out of 120 townships were listed as provincial - level poverty - stricken townships.

If Fujian is described as "eight mountains, one water, and one part of farmland," then Ningde is "nine mountains, half water, and half part of farmland." The contradiction between people and land is more intense than the provincial average.

What's more embarrassing is that Ningde is adjacent to Wenzhou in the north and Fuzhou in the south. With rich neighbors around, Ningde got an unflattering name: the golden broken belt on the eastern coast.

This situation continued until the 21st century when Ningde was upgraded from a prefecture to a city. At that time, when Ningde's manufacturing output value just exceeded that of agriculture, Ningde's officials began to invite Ningde people who had gone out to invest in their hometown.

Among them was Zeng Yuqun, the founder of CATL.

At that time, Zeng Yuqun had already started his entrepreneurial journey. His ATL was quite famous in the industry, and he already had two factories in Dongguan. He was ambitiously planning to expand his business in areas like Hangzhou, Jiangsu, and Shandong.

To persuade Zeng Yuqun, the leaders of the Ningde municipal and district governments visited him in Dongguan again and again over several years. They also offered a series of preferential policies: priority in land supply, maximum tax rebates, exemption of personal income tax for senior talents, government assistance in recruiting workers, and a commitment to improve infrastructure such as road networks...

Ningde's sincerity finally moved Zeng Yuqun, who had a strong sense of hometown. It is said that Zeng Yuqun threatened to "resign" to move a part of his production capacity back to Ningde.

In 2008, ATL Ningde New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was officially established in Ningde, with an initial investment of up to 200 million US dollars. The magnificent prelude to Ningde's lithium - battery industry revolution was thus opened.

The best entrepreneurs can bring not only GDP and tax revenue to a city but also insights into future trends and the initiative in industrial layout.

Zeng Yuqun is exactly such an entrepreneur.

In 2011, Zeng Yuqun decided to spin off the future core business of power batteries from ATL and develop it independently. Thus, CATL was born.

Its mission is to provide basic power for the possible future new - energy era.

With hindsight, Zeng Yuqun's decision at that time was indeed far - sighted. But in 2011, no one could be sure if the era of new - energy vehicles would come. Even what we call the "Year of New Energy" was in 2014.

However, the Ningde government did not hesitate but firmly chose to bet on the future.

For the future "chain master" CATL, the government began to systematically introduce upstream and downstream industrial chain enterprises, from the most core cathode and anode materials, electrolytes in the upstream, to key auxiliary materials such as diaphragms and copper foils, and then to the vehicle manufacturing link in the downstream. A complete and competitive lithium - battery new - energy industrial cluster was established.

The existence of CATL has also changed Ningde's investment - promotion model to some extent.

The past extensive approach of "casting a wide net and hoping for luck" was abandoned. Instead, it was replaced by "precise drip - irrigation" around the leading enterprise. Based on the supply chain of CATL, the government targeted and attracted the world's top supporting enterprises.

In 2017, SAIC Group announced that its new - energy vehicle project would be officially located in Ningde. Today, Ningde is undoubtedly a pole of China's automobile industry and even a high - ground in the global new - energy industrial chain.

In 2022, Ningde's GDP exceeded 358 billion yuan at one go. Not only did it have the highest growth rate in Fujian Province, but it also entered the list of the top 100 cities in the country.

The once - called golden broken belt has transformed into a golden industrial belt.

Who could have imagined that just over 20 years ago, there was only one traffic light in the entire downtown area of Ningde.

What has brought about this earth - shattering change in this poor coastal area is the long - term persistence of a city and the foresight and ambition of an enterprise.

03

I believe a crucial reason why the term "comeback" has become associated with Fujian is that the people of Fujian are not only willing to venture out but also eager to return.

First, "venturing out."

Everyone knows that "Only by daring to fight can you win" is an external manifestation of Fujian's spirit. Conversely, it actually means "If you don't fight, you'll be doomed."

The German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen once asserted that Fujian "is perhaps the only region in the world with continuous mountains but without high - altitude mountains, vast plateaus, or large plains." This geographical environment has made Fujian people understand since ancient times that they can't support their families by farming alone.

Venturing out is a survival instinct "forced" by harsh reality.

Whether it was the glory of Quanzhou Port as the "No. 1 Port in the East" during the Song and Yuan Dynasties or the private overseas trade that could not be stopped even during the "Maritime Ban" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it all reflects the tradition of Fujian people to explore the outside world.

This "venturing out" is not only reflected in the "geographical" aspect but also in "finding a way out."

Those near the sea can get rich by going out to sea, and those in the mountains can also find their own way out.

For example, Anxi County in the "coastal mountainous area" has transformed from a national - level poverty - stricken county 40 years ago into a top 100 county in the country by relying on its local - characteristic tea. The Anxi people also founded Bama Tea based on this geographical advantage.

From Sanming City in Fujian, the Shaxian Snacks have spread all over the country. Even Nanping, the "poorest" city in the province, has given birth to leading enterprises in their respective industries such as Nanfu Battery and Sunner Group, and its per - capita GDP exceeds the national average.

In fact, Fujian is one of the most balanced - developing provinces in the country. According to the barrel theory, Fujian may be the province with the shortest "short board." Each prefecture - level city and even remote counties in the province can develop their own characteristic advantages according to local conditions.

As for "returning," it can be seen that Fujian people are very united in business and are good at utilizing resources.

Throughout the history of reform and opening - up, overseas Chinese have played a crucial role in Fujian's development.

After the reform and opening - up, these overseas Chinese returned to their hometowns with capital, information, and orders. They founded the first foreign - owned enterprise, the first national - level overseas Chinese development zone, and the first Sino - foreign joint - venture bank in Fujian. The Fuzhou Overseas Chinese Building and the Fuqing Minjiang Water Diversion Project were all built with donations from overseas Chinese. They were the earliest "angel investors" in Fujian.

The same is true for CATL. Besides the government's sincerity, Zeng Yuqun also had the personal desire to give back to his hometown.

If one only ventures out, it can only achieve personal comeback. Only by bringing back external resources and experience can local comeback be achieved.