A small town in eastern China holds multiple national and global records. Cixi is the world's largest producer of irons and heaters. China's biggest manufacturing hub for home appliances and one of the first counties in the country to surpass 100 billion yuan in GDP, approximately 14-billion US dollars. Zhou Yixin uncovers the secrets behind its success.
If your hair dryer is made in China, there's a good chance it was manufactured here.
ZHOU YIXIN, Cixi, Zhejiang Province "One in every five hair dryers sold worldwide is made in Cixi. Known as the home appliance capital of the world, the city is more than just a manufacturing hub—it's also a center of innovation, constantly developing products with fresh designs, features, and styles."
Yueli Group is one of the world's largest hair dryer manufacturers. But, a decade ago, it was just one of many suppliers for top global brands, trailing in technology and relying heavily on external resources for R&D.
"This design can add a massaging effect to the product."
Today, Yueli's independent R&D capabilities have gained global recognition.
LI LIZHONG, Director, Marketing Department, Zhejiang Yueli Electrical Corporation "Our partners include top-tier brands and major retail chains from Italy, Japan, France, the US, the Netherlands, and beyond."
Yueli's success is deeply tied to Cixi's comprehensive supply chain. The company collaborates with over 300 specialized suppliers, each mastering a specific component. One such example is Wanneng Electronics, which focuses exclusively on power cords.
YU CHONGWEI, General Manager, Cixi Wanneng Electronics Corporation "We've developed advanced automation equipment and refined our production, as we strive to perfect even the most average products."
Today, their power cords travel across the globe, embedded in tens of millions of home appliances made in Cixi.
ZHOU YIXIN, Cixi, Zhejiang Province "From the power cord factory to the final product assembly line, it's just a 30-minute drive—perfectly illustrating Cixi's 'one-hour production circle'."
Nearly 10,000 supporting enterprises are clustered within a one-hour drive, forming a full supply chain. This factory produces Printed Circuit Boards, the hidden brain behind almost every electronic device we use daily. By focusing on this one minor component, it's managed to excel in a niche market.
QIAN XUNENG, Deputy Manager, Cixi Qingbao Electronic Technology Corporation "It only takes us about three hours to produce a sample after receiving a client's design."
From one factory to the next, enterprises work in tandem. For big manufacturers, working with suppliers specialized in each niche field helps speed up the development of products.
In 2022, Huayu's general manager, Xu Jiasheng, and his team, identified a growing demand for higher-performance air fryers. Their research pinpointed airflow design as key to solving the problem of uneven heating that many products had back then. After testing dozens of sample products, they finally developed an optimized model. But without the support of Cixi's industrial chain, scaling this solution into mass production would not have been as efficient.
XU JIASHENG, General Manager, Huayu Electrical Appliance Group "Whenever we needed to fine-tune product performance during testing, our upstream suppliers quickly provided optimized solutions, helping to shorten our development cycle."
The newly developed air fryer quickly captured a significant share of the global market, reinforcing confidence among enterprises to continue investing in product innovation. At the same time, suppliers are also working relentlessly to keep pace with the fast-evolving demands of whole-machine manufacturers.
As one of Huayu's key suppliers, Drotel Electronics produces electrical control boards, which act as the "command center" for appliance functions. During product testing, their engineers can be present at factories to assist with troubleshooting, ensuring smoother R&D process. Industry experts say, Cixi's highly integrated supply chain gives it a distinct advantage.
HUANG SHUHUA, Vice Chairman, Cixi Council for Promotion of International Trade "In Cixi, manufacturers can source all necessary components within a 5-kilometer radius. These parts may seem insignificant, but in other locations, manufacturers might find themselves with almost everything in place—except for one or two hard-to-source components. That doesn't happen here."
From the smallest screw to the most advanced circuit board, every part plays a crucial role in the network, working together to drive a global industry in this small town. This deep-rooted industrial synergy and decades of specialization offers an illustration of what it means to be "made in China". Zhou Yixin, CGTN, Cixi, Zhejiang Province.
