Wenzhou Yongjia: Pursuing Innovation and Quality to Chart a New Chapter in Development

In 2024, Yongjia County in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China, is leveraging industrial digitalization as the driving force to fuel the robust growth of Innovative Productivity. Here, innovation is no longer just a slogan but a gene deeply embedded in its veins. The hum of every machine is a call to the future, and every technological breakthrough is a pursuit of dreams. Yongjia is chasing"innovation" and"quality," leading its industries toward high-end, intelligent, and green transformation, opening a new chapter in high-quality development.

Yongjia's Qiaoxia Town is nationally renowned as the“Yongjia Educational Toy Town”, a“dream factory of childhood” in the eyes of children. According to statistics, 63% of the country's educational toys are produced in Wenzhou, and 94% of Wenzhou's educational toys are concentrated here. Over 1,300 educational toy and supporting enterprises are scattered across the town, including 33 large-scale enterprises, employing more than 20,000 people.

Yongjia Education Toys Town. Photograph provided by Yongjia County Committee of Publicity Department

However, despite these remarkable achievements, the educational toy enterprises in Qiaoxia Town still grapple with a“small, scattered, and low-end” industrial structure. Confronted with these challenges, the people of Yongjia have embarked on a new chapter of industrial upgrading with boldness and determination.

In the production workshop of Kaqi Group, workers simply set the cutting data and press a button, allowing automated equipment to precisely handle the cutting and welding of components."In the past, manual cutting machines were inefficient, and it was difficult to maintain uniform dimensions. Now, intelligent equipment has not only increased production efficiency by 40 to 50 times but also significantly improved product quality," said Pu Chaowei, the production workshop manager at Kaqi Group.

Kaiqi’s self-driven innovation epitomizes the development of Qiaoxia Town’s educational toy industry. At the same time, another traditional industry in Yongjia—footwear and apparel—is also keeping pace with innovation and stepping into the era of intelligence. At the Vali Footwear Model Studio of Zhejiang Huilima Industrial Internet Co., Ltd., staff members can create a new shoe design in just a few seconds with a click of the mouse. This platform, dubbed the“Chinese version of ChatGPT for footwear design,” is built on a professional model trained on hundreds of millions of images. It achieves a breakthrough by generating photo-level design drafts in 10 seconds, reducing the product development cycle from 90 days to 10-15 days.

Yongjia's traditional industries are using innovation as a brush to write a new chapter in high-quality development. In 2024, Yongjia's pump and valve industry became the first single manufacturing cluster in the province's mountainous and island counties to surpass a total output value of 55 billion yuan. To further bolster the vitality and resilience of the pump and valve industry chain, the Yongjia County government has rolled out supportive policies. These policies focus on the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, aiming to cultivate a group of leading enterprises and specialized"hidden champion" enterprises, injecting more innovative momentum into the industry's future.

Driven by these policies, Yongjia has so far cultivated 18 national-level"Little Giant" specialized and innovative enterprises, 106 provincial-level specialized and innovative SMEs, and 15 provincial-level"hidden champion" enterprises, ranking first among mountainous and island counties in the province.

Meanwhile, the new energy industry, a cornerstone of Yongjia’s“3+3+N” characteristic industrial system, is thriving. The construction of BYD's new energy power battery production base is progressing smoothly, with the first phase of the blade battery project's national standard line already in operation and the second phase's European standard line under construction, signaling Yongjia's ambitious strides in the new energy sector.

Yongjia Pumped Storage Power Station Project. Photograph provided by Yongjia County Committee of Publicity Department

Equally noteworthy is the progress of the Zhejiang Yongjia Pumped Storage Power Station project. As the largest energy project in Yongjia's history, with a total investment of 8.02 billion yuan, it is expected that the first unit will begin generating electricity in July 2027, with full operation by 2028 and completion in 2029.

Amid the wave of Innovative Productivity development, Yongjia County is relying on its ecological advantages of green mountains and clear waters, guided by the"Thousand Villages Demonstration, Ten Thousand Villages Improvement" project, to deepen rural construction and promote integrated urban-rural development, painting a beautiful picture of rural revitalization.

In recent years, Huolu Village, under the theme“Authentic Huolu, Returning to the Original Hometown,” has meticulously crafted a“One Core, Two Belts, Four Clusters” development plan. By rationally allocating land resources, the village has attracted over 100,000 tourists and created more than 2,000 job opportunities for villagers and surrounding communities, increasing per capita income by over 2,500 yuan compared to before the transformation. As a result, Huolu Village has been honored with multiple titles, including one of Zhejiang's first"Red Roots" Strong Foundation Demonstration Villages, a provincial-level"Zero Waste" Village, and a municipal-level Three-Star Common Prosperity Workshop, becoming a model for rural revitalization.

Yongjia Yantou Lishui Street.Photograph provided by Yongjia County Committee of Publicity Department

Simultaneously, Yantou Lishui Street has passed the provincial high-quality pedestrian street assessment, earning another provincial“golden name card” for Yongjia’s cultural tourism. With a history of over 450 years, Lishui Street is dedicated to building a high-quality pedestrian district. Guided by the ancient street protection and utilization plan, the local government has combined the restoration and enhancement of the ancient village with improving villagers' living conditions, preserving the cultural roots while creating a new model of integrated cultural, musical, and agricultural tourism. Leveraging the popularity of the Nanxi River Music Festival, Lishui Street has attracted visitors from all directions, becoming a new highlight of Yongjia's cultural tourism.

In 2024, Yongjia, with its bold vision and determination to lead the way, is unlocking the boundless potential of Innovative Productivity. In the future, Yongjia will continue to stimulate the"first driving force" of"embracing the river and integrating industry with the city," seize opportunities, and plan strategically. On the new journey of building a strong nation and achieving national rejuvenation, Yongjia will continue to accelerate its high-quality development. (Liu Minmin)