Xinhua Finance, Guiyang, December 16 (Reporter Zhou Xuanni) Deep in the Wuling Mountains in northern Guizhou, Wuchuan Gelao and Miao Autonomous County in Guizhou Province is now using the football manufacturing industry as the fulcrum for revitalization, leveraging an industrial revolution that spans mountains and seas. Entering Daping Industrial Park in Wuchuan County, many football manufacturing companies gather here. As one of the important football production bases in the country, more than 10 million footballs are produced in Wuchuan County every year and sold to all over the world.
In the football production workshop of Kanghong Sports Goods Co., Ltd., finished footballs are piled up in a hill, and the “click-click” sound of the workers’ feet on the sewing machine is intertwined with the sound of the machine’s ink printing. Tian Taiqiang, the person in charge of the company, is busy delivering various overseas customer orders and arranging workers to pack the finished footballs into boxes.
“The World Cup will be held in 2026. This year, the orders for various types of footballs placed by overseas customers for us have also continued to surge. The first half of next year will usher in a peak of football buying. In addition to regular footballs, orders for decorative footballs are also increasing. Recently, we are busy expanding production so that we can deliver them efficiently.” Tian Taiqiang told reporters.
In 2017, Tian Taiqiang, who had worked hard in Yiwu, Zhejiang for more than 20 years, returned to his hometown with the football production skills, funds and enthusiasm he had learned, and used his homesickness to ignite the fire of entrepreneurship. He combined the standardized ball production process he learned in the Zhejiang factory with the labor advantages of Wuchuan County and built a football production line in Daping Industrial Park.
“We only produced 3 million footballs in the first year, but orders were scheduled until the end of the year.” Tian Taiqiang recalled. His success is like a magnet, attracting more entrepreneurs who return home. As the local government continues to attract investment, several companies have also settled in the park, forming a ball product manufacturing cluster. From low-end processing to mid-to-high-end manufacturing, Wuchuan football industry has now achieved a double leap in quality and market.
Tian Taiqiang admitted that he had encountered setbacks on his way to sea. A few years ago, a Shanghai foreign trade company organized several domestic football manufacturing companies to jointly produce production orders, and brought the footballs produced in various places to Suzhou and exported them to Poland. Tian Taiqiang’s company was also involved.
After more than 20,000 footballs arrived, Polish customers reported that a small number of them had bonding defects in the inner liner. Even though the products were not supplied by his own factory, Tian Taiqiang immediately sent a technical team to Europe at his own expense to spend two weeks inspecting them one by one to completely eliminate quality hazards.
“It was our integrity that impressed overseas customers and made Polish merchants our long-term partners. They placed a customized production order for 160,000 footballs with our factory last year, and also proactively recommended Wuchuan football to overseas customers in other European countries, which expanded the overseas sales of our county’s football industry.” Tian Taiqiang recalled.
In Wuchuan, football is not only a “competent product” for exporting overseas, but also a “golden key” for improving people’s livelihood. The five ball manufacturing companies in Daping Industrial Park have helped more than 1,000 people achieve stable employment. “I used to work in other places, but now I can work at home, take care of the elderly and children, and get a monthly salary of more than 4,000 yuan.” Tian Xueling, who is in charge of sewing the sphere, said with a smile.
Today, Wuchuan County is focusing on the three major directions of “clustering, industrial improvement, and event empowerment”: improving the industrial chain by introducing upstream and downstream football enterprises; building a Gelao cultural football brand to expand campus and domestic markets; cultivating campus football events and promoting the integrated development of “industry, competition, and culture” to bring football in the mountains to a broader stage.
“This year, the comprehensive output value of Wuchuan football industry has exceeded 90 million yuan. Our goal in the future is to let Wuchuan football enter the World Cup and continue to expand Wuchuan football’s circle of friends around the world.” Cheng Peng, deputy head of Wuchuan County, said. From the mountains to the world, Wuchuan football’s overseas trajectory is writing a new chapter in rural revitalization.
Editor: Gu Junyi
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