Starting from scratch

Persuaded by an investment promotion official in Pingli, Zhang Futao and Zhang Fuli decided to come back from Shenzhen and start a business in their hometown during the Spring Festival holiday in 2014. 

Like many young people in Pingli who became migrant workers in wealthier southern China, the brother and sister duo had worked in Shenzhen since their teens. They grew from apprentices in an electronics factory into bosses of a little factory. However, the rising labor costs in Shenzhen had begun putting pressure on their business.

Workers of Zhang Fuli's community factory in Pingli county, northwestern China's Shaanxi Province, put on work clothes on July 26, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Soon, the siblings opened a workshop making electronic components of headphone speakers in the family's house, and began to employ local workers. In mere months, the number of their employees jumped from six to 30.

"The export of labor services over the years gave birth to a batch of entrepreneurs like the Zhang siblings, bringing benefits to Pingli," said Tang Yiping, the Pingli official who got the brother and sister to come back. He said the family workshop was the prototype of Pingli's community factories.

According to Tang, other migrant workers of Pingli modeled after the workshop and began coming home to start businesses. This also made the county government more confident in supporting mass entrepreneurship. By the fall of 2014, a few workshops processing coils, gloves, and small gadgets had sprung up across the county.