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PEAK: A true tale of Quanzhou's grit and perseverance
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Editor's note: This report focuses on Quanzhou as part of our special series, "Rising Star Cities," about Chinese cities whose annual GDP exceeds 1 trillion yuan ($155 billion). At the end of 2021, there were 24 such cities. Click here for more stories on Quanzhou, an ancient trading hub known for its cultural diversity. You can also explore our earlier coverage of Ningbo, Changsha and Chongqing.

When it comes to successful entrepreneurs from Fujian, there can be no better name than Xu Jingnan, the founder of Chinese sportswear brand PEAK. Born in an ordinary family in Quanzhou, Xu tasted extreme poverty in his younger days and had to make a living by pulling a crate. But the strong determination to succeed and China's reform and opening up policies in the late 1990s helped Xu carve his niche in the sports apparel sector. After PEAK became a household name in China, Xu continued to internationalize the brand and upgrade the production lines. 

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