China's second-generation factory owners go digital

BEIJING

Robyn Qiu is seen taking for a video streaming in the Qiu's parent metal parts factory in Nantong, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, on Sept. 27, 2024.

Dressed in a pristine white knit top, Robyn Qiu cut an incongruous figure in her parents' dusty, hangar-like metal hardware factory in eastern China as she gestured excitedly while an assistant filmed her on a smartphone.

The 29-year-old is one of many second-generation factory owners fighting to elevate the country's manufacturing sector, pitting digital native skillsets against the rising costs and geopolitical tensions pushing clients abroad.

When Qiu was a child, her parents encouraged her to aim for a white-collar office job far from the dust and din of the factory floor.

But after years spent working in consulting, the Yale-educated Qiu now feels she has "this very strong responsibility to give back to manufacturing."

Qiu has set up a marketing business that directly connects factories with foreign audiences, through videos posted on Instagram and TikTok, which in China can only be accessed using a VPN.

It's a stark contrast from the way earlier generations conducted business, often with many middlemen and at the mercy of major buyers.

In her videos, a cheerful Qiu speaks in fluent English, narrating as she buys street snacks in Shanghai or listing China's key manufacturing zones while walking along a factory assembly line.

Qiu's parents, who founded the factory in the 1990s, were part of a massive wave of entrepreneurship that marked the first decades of China's reform and opening up, when the country transformed into the world's factory and eventually, its second largest economy.

However, rising wages in China and geopolitical tensions with trade partners including the United States have made alternative locations such as Cambodia and Bangladesh increasingly attractive to clients.

The Qius lost major customers in the 2010s after refusing an offer to move their production to Cambodia.

Flagging domestic demand in recent years has further weighed on the sector, with the official factory activity index in China contracting for five months in a row since May.

The Qius have adapted. They recently purchased more advanced equipment to automate more of the manufacturing process.

They are also experimenting with making their own products, laser levels for construction use, rather than only making parts for clients.

Qiu said the reaction to her videos has been "amazing", with more than 500 buyers contacting her since May this year, and more than 150,000 users following her Instagram page.

Her online success is mirrored by other "Changerdai", the Chinese name for second-generation factory owners, a play on "Fuerdai", a phrase used to describe often idle scions of generational wealth.

Changerdai content has gone viral both at home and abroad, albeit sometimes as inadvertent memes.

Nowadays, "if you want to do marketing, you want to get people's attention, you have to invest in short videos", said Qiu.