Text/Cui Hengyu

Editor/question

Lucy in Shanghai went to the eyelash shop to graft eyelashes, and her flickering eyes became more agile. She felt that the cost of nearly 1,000 yuan was worth the money. Susan in Beijing spends half a quarter of an hour making up every day, and sticking false eyelashes is the most critical part; Madonna, the goddess of youth, once spent $10,000 to customize a pair of false eyelashes made of mink hair and set with diamonds …

To some extent, false eyelashes have become a sense of ritual for women who love beauty. What few people know is that behind this little sense of ceremony, there is a hidden name-Qingdao Pingdu.

This magical town in the north of China produces false eyelashes with an output value of several billion yuan. Different materials, styles, lengths, curls and colors are all creating superimposed value for the eyelash industry. At present, Pingdu supplies 70% false eyelashes in the national market and exports them to Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other markets.

If you leave Shanghai for Pingdu, you have to take the high-speed train for at least 7 hours to reach Qingdao first, and then drive along the expressway to the northwest for more than 100 kilometers.

The distance between this industrial town and the international city is not beautiful, but in the past year or two, the expressway of the Internet has reduced this distance to zero, and with the sinking of traffic, the development of this small town has already jumped out of the shackles of space and the world has become flat.

In Pingdu, Qingdao, there are about 50,000 female workers engaged in false eyelashes. Tweezers, scissors and glue are almost all their tools. They roll and shape the semi-finished false eyelashes with their hands, brush the glue and hold them, and repeat this action more than 1000 times a day.

Subsequently, these false eyelashes flow to nerve endings such as eyelash shops, shopping malls and online shopping carts through platforms such as 1688 and Taobao. In the process, the value of this "small manual work" was multiplied.

"In Pingdu, especially in Changle Town, almost every household is doing false eyelashes business." Cui Defei, the head of Dream Shirley Eyelash Factory, told E-commerce Online. Under the strong consumer demand, the productive forces of stars are clustered together on the soil of more than 3000 square kilometers in Pingdu.

Under the false eyelash industry, this northern county seems to be an arena, where different stakeholders cut on the same cake; But at the same time, they are also working together to make this cake bigger. Whether it is to capture more customers through 1688, to supply Taobao merchants, or to cooperate with foreign trade companies, false eyelashes are a living water in Pingdu.

Fiery eyelash economy

Chen Lin painted the exterior wall of his Hongbaili eyelash factory dark pink, which can be seen from a distance on Hongqi Road.

Three years ago, this factory was still a pig farm. Because the qualification of environmental protection was revoked, Chen Lin set it down and built his own false eyelash processing factory.

"Recruit false eyelashes workers, the number is not limited, and they are available all the year round." The "recruitment" notice posted in front of the factory for a long time shows the confidence of the local eyelash economy.

It took Chen Lin three or four years from recruiting to having stable customers, and now it can receive at least 120 million orders for false eyelashes every year.

Processing workshop, raw material warehouse, finished product warehouse, office, and simple regional division circulate the business of Hongbaili Eyelash Factory.

At the same time, the invisible "circulation" is also going on in 1688. "The factory opened a shop in 1688 and didn’t need to run its own customers." Since 2017, more than 50% of Chen Lin’s orders have come from online.

However, the main customers are still offline, and many foreign trade companies are still used to going to Pingdu for a walk and to the factory compound in Chen Lin to carefully compare the production line and order-making ability of the local false eyelashes factory.

"There are thousands of eyelash’ processing factories’ in Pingdu, but there are only a few hundred large-scale and organized factories, and more are still in the mode of family workshops." Chen Lin told me that Hongbaili is located in the middle and upper reaches, and its order size constitutes the confidence of "unlimited number of employees, with goods available all the year round".

Through foreign trade customers, the false eyelashes processed by Hongbaili have crossed the ocean and entered Europe, Southeast Asia and other countries. On Taobao, the brand of false eyelashes in China has begun to take shape, and the sales of some explosive items can exceed 30,000 to 40,000 in a single month. Take "Princess Moon" as an example, a "Princess Moon flagship store" was opened on Tmall before double 11, and the monthly sales volume of one eyelash has exceeded 20,000 boxes.

Princess Moon’s processing factory, Meijiaoyuan Eyelash Factory, is only 10 minutes’ drive from Hongbaili Eyelash Factory. In addition to processing for its own brands, Meijiaoyuan Eyelash Factory also processes false eyelashes for many brands such as Menglu and Oukena.

With the arrival of Tmall double 11, many local eyelash factories have already entered a "combat state".

"Since July this year, our semi-finished factory has begun to prepare the goods of Tmall double 11. According to our production capacity, we can make about 3 million pairs in one month, but there is still a gap after three months this year." Pu Aru, the head of the operation of Princess Moon, told E-commerce Online.

"This is something that has never happened in previous years." Pualu added.

At present, more than 120 workers in Meijiaoyuan Eyelash Factory are working overtime for Tmall double 11’s orders. "Orders that can be completed with a little overtime last year are more staffed and more efficient this year, and overtime has already started. There are still many brands that are not timely in delivery. Some brands are in a hurry to get goods, and they can cry on the phone. " Pualu said, "This is really no joke."

Take Meijiaoyuan Eyelash Factory as an example. This year, Tmall double 11 has brought it 30-40% order growth. Even if it ships 20,000 boxes of false eyelashes every day, it still can’t keep up with the market demand. This is also the reason why more and more Pingdu people join the battlefield of false eyelashes, but few people are out.

In addition to the excitement in double 11, the eyelash shops distributed all over the country are also the main customers of Pingdu Industrial Belt. According to the incomplete statistics of "E-commerce Online", there are over 30,000 eyelash-related stores in the north, Guangzhou and Guangzhou alone, and almost all of them are in Pingdu. Through the eyelash shops, the false eyelashes on the hands of female workers are implanted into the eyelids of women who love beauty one by one.

False eyelashes business in magic town

Strictly speaking, Pingdu is not the main raw material base for false eyelashes, and the rich local mineral resources have created a number of stone factories. The trend in the past two years is that more entrepreneurs choose the former under the contrast between the two industries.

In fact, since around 1930, false eyelashes have been popular in the United States, and even with a strong glue, "eyelash grafting" can be realized, and the consumer groups have gradually moved from movie stars to ordinary people. By the 1960s, the sales of false eyelashes had reached 20 million pairs.

Until 1976, this "craft" began to sprout in the depths of Daze Mountain in Pingdu. "I heard that at that time, our boss still twisted the fibers one by one on the fishing line by hand, and only later did he have a machine to do it." Pualu introduced.

But the first wave of Pingdu people got together and entered the false eyelashes industry at the end of the 20th century. Chen Lin told me that there is a popular trend in the local people’s "career". After making leather bags, planting trees, raising chickens and opening restaurants, false eyelashes can be regarded as an industry with more and more entrants and longer vitality in the past 20 years, and this business is being passed down to the next generation.

Most eyelash factories in Pingdu don’t have to start with raw materials themselves. They purchase raw materials and semi-finished products of false eyelashes from North Korea, which not only saves money but also saves labor. Large-scale factories directly open raw material processing factories in North Korea.

After getting the semi-finished products of false eyelashes, Pingdu female workers will do further cutting, gluing, supporting and packaging, and some eyelashes with unformed curl need one more step of curling and shaping.

Stable upstream supply of raw materials, customers and markets accumulated by the previous generation, and online markets such as 1688 and Taobao, now Pingdu’s false eyelashes business is not difficult to do.

In the conventional sense, false eyelashes pay attention to material and shape, which are generally divided into types such as opposite hair, close arrangement and multiple hairs, and are suitable for daily makeup and grafting according to their functions. Chen Lin has repeatedly mentioned that this is an industry with a low threshold, and it is also the reason why local families do it.

"False eyelashes have not changed much in the past few decades, such as the popular 3D and messy effects. In fact, such products were already available four or five years ago. We all regarded these as abandoned products at that time, but who knows that they will be popular in Europe and America a few years later." Chen Lin said.

On the one hand, eyelash entrepreneurship, on the other hand, eyelash employment has solved the livelihood of many local women. In several false eyelash factories I visited, all of them were female workers.

People’s Daily reported in 2016 that only in Dazeshan, Pingdu, the false eyelash processing base radiated to 26 surrounding villages, and more than 150 small and micro enterprises and self-employed households were developed, driving more than 500 family processing points. Today, the eyelash industry has driven the employment of 50,000 local people.

Under normal circumstances, female workers in eyelash factory can get a salary of 4000-5000 yuan per month. "Some people who are willing to endure hardships can endure more than ten hours a day and earn more than 10,000 yuan a month." Pualu said.

In Pingdu, women aged 20-40 mostly concentrate on supermarket salespeople, farming and so on, and their income is lower than that of false eyelashes processing. Wang Fang has been working on false eyelashes for 20 years, and her proximity to home, light work and good income have become the reasons for her persistence for more than 20 years.

At the same time, more and more post-80s and post-90s "second generation of eyelashes" have entered the industry, and they are using Internet tools to pry open areas that their parents dare not try.

Chen Lin was born after 1985. In his impression, many relatives were already doing eyelash business in high school, and the topics discussed at the dinner table were also related industries. "Every village is doing false eyelash business, but there are hundreds of decent factories."

After graduating from college, Chen Lin worked as a salesman in Qingdao for several years, but the idea of "going home to do eyelash business" kept appearing in his mind. My parents don’t support it. Since I have already gone to Qingdao, I don’t want to go back to work in the county. It is a good way to go out and run to a big city.

What they didn’t say was a deeper reason. The eyelash business of my parents still has the shadow of traditional business. "At that time, credit and goods were very serious in the industry. On holidays, we urged these credits just like urging the project."

Chen Lin chose another path, never accepting credit for online business, and the second generation of eyelashes had a healthier cash flow.

After entering the society in 1990s, Pualu did a lot of work, but eventually false eyelashes became his favorite and most energetic job.

Every day, boxes of false eyelashes are transported from the warehouse to all parts of the country, and Pualu enjoys this scene.

Uncover the secret

Once, false eyelashes were the secret of flatness. The earliest core technology was only mastered by a few people and only told to the closest people.

After "quietly" making the products, I went to the market with boxes of false eyelashes on my back. The stalls in Yiwu and Guangzhou were all touched by the last generation of Pingdu people. At that time, they had to use the most primitive way to win more customers for their business.

According to media reports, even a female worker in an eyelash factory can earn 6,000 yuan if she goes out with a pack of false eyelashes on her back.

As the eyelash industry was slowly enlarged, the secret began to be untenable; At the same time, when eyelashes gradually become a "panacea" for women’s makeup, the eyelash market also has more and more space.

Different from the previous generation, the second generation of eyelashes began to pursue better quality.

From the earliest opening of eyelash shop on Taobao to the self-built factory running through the upstream and downstream of the entire industrial chain, Cui Defei spent a full six years. This experience also made him explore the new life door of this business-quality.

"We started from the Taobao store at the beginning, which means that we have higher requirements for products." Cui Defei cited an example. In the past, in the wholesale of false eyelashes, the phenomenon of replacing B products with A products occurred from time to time. However, for emerging brands that open stores for consumers, every product sold must pass the inspection and feedback of consumers.

At present, 60% of transactions in Cui Defei’s Dream Shirley Eyelash Factory are online. The same is true of Meijiaoyuan Eyelash Factory, and online consumers are becoming a continuous source of hematopoiesis.

But objectively speaking, from the perspective of the whole beauty industry, the eyelash industry in China is not developed. The industrial chains of false eyelashes of international beauty brands such as L ‘Oreal, Shu Uemura, MAC and Make Up For Ever are more concentrated in Java, Indonesia. In Indonesia, women workers are engaged in similar jobs as women workers in Pingdu. They can only earn 8 pence (about 0.8 yuan RMB) for each pair of false eyelashes, but the brand can finally sell 5.95 pounds (about 50 yuan RMB) in the market.

In addition to the production cost and distribution cost, more value of false eyelashes is reflected in the brand premium. However, in the development of China false eyelashes market for more than 20 years, there are not many brands widely known by the public. Apart from Princess Moon and Dream Deer, there are few false eyelashes brands in China.

In the interview, Cui Defei recommended a kind of "flat-haired" false eyelashes to me, which is a kind of false eyelashes that Dream Shirley Factory has been focusing on since July this year. Different from its processing brand, this kind of false eyelashes is printed with the name of "MONSHEERY Dream Shirley" and has become a product that Dream Shirley will soon launch under its own brand.

The second generation of eyelashes in Pingdu, Qingdao, has gone from making and selling eyelashes to the Internet era of eyelash business, and then into the 3.0 era of making eyelash brands.

(Wang Fang is a pseudonym in the text)

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Original title: "Northern town changed by" eyelashes ":50,000 people brush their eyelashes thousands of times a day, and brush out billions a year"

　　Sohu Entertainment News (Sen Yue/Wen Blueprint/Video) "Are you looking for an actor? I can act, I’ll sing one for you. " Extras Xiao Jia said. He is one of the extras gathered at the gate of the Old North Film Factory. Although many of them have no professional performance training, they are naturally sensitive to the camera. At the gate of the old North Film Factory, they squatted on the ground in twos and threes, waiting to be chosen, singing and dancing in a circle, hoping that they could grasp the opportunity when it came. As soon as they see an unidentified person approaching, or someone holding a device with a lens at them, their performance has already begun.

　　The group of "extras" has been paid attention to again, because the film "I am a passerby" directed by Tung shing Yee, in which the group performers with the background of human flesh are the protagonists. In addition to Hengdian, which is nicknamed "Hollywood in China" by the group performers, there are also such a group of people in Beijing, who sometimes hang out in Huairou’s film and television base and sometimes stay outside the gate of the Old North Film Studio. These people who come from different places, have different goals and are not sure about the future gather at the gate of the old North Film Factory. Among them, apart from the confused young people, the "North Wandering" who have never been to the theater to try their luck, the old Jianghu with many years of group performance experience, and many students who graduated from professional colleges and old artists who really love performance.

　　There are nobody, corner and wrist, some people come to look for their dreams, and many people just like the atmosphere. Although many people in this industry can’t make ends meet, most of them can do a serious job; Although many of them have no money to watch I am a passerby, they are more hopeful than others, and being an extra actor may not be as "miserable" as people think.

　　From all corners of the country, I have done various occupations.

　　Xiao Jia is not tall. He said that he came to squat at five o’clock in the morning to see if there was any work. It was already ten o’clock in the morning, and it was a bit hanging. However, Xiao Jia said that sometimes someone will suddenly come to find someone to use it in the evening, and he will wait and see. In the midsummer of July, under the big sun, extras squatted on the ground waiting for the crew, but Xiao Bing from Sichuan said that there had been no crew to find someone for several days. When I came to Beijing to be an extra, everyone had different experiences. Xiaoding, a native of Shanxi, used to be a cook. He felt bored, so he came to Beijing to see the opportunity. For one thing, he played the Eighth Route Army with a line, and more often he played passers-by and corpses. A monk who used to study in Shaolin but was not forbidden by monks, seems to be more idealistic than others, sleeping in flyovers and parks, and acting in some martial arts plays.

　　More people have done odd jobs, driven trucks and pulled through Ma Touqin, and they are not planning their careers, just surviving. Doing group performances is just another way to make a living. Xiao Yi, a girl from Jiangsu, used to be a small white-collar worker. She has just been here for two days and has not yet figured out what kind of environment this is. After her work suffered setbacks, doing group performances became the last "life-saving straw" for Xiao Yi. This girl has just been treated unfairly and has no money. She didn’t want to go home and hide. Until this year, her family didn’t know that she was doing group performances. She didn’t think being an actress was her childhood dream. "Because I have no money, I have courage because I have no money. I feel that my situation is similar to that of people around me."

　　Thirty to one hundred, which is probably the reward for a group performance for one day. It will be more expensive to play the corpse. The group performers jostled each other and teased each other about the experience of playing the corpse. Xiaojia feels that he doesn’t earn much every day in his hometown, but his daily life should be enough. He wears cheap clothes, but his gestures are dramatic, and he pays great attention to adjusting his position with the camera. He said that he often plays the body guard, and more often he plays the Eighth Route Army.

　　Have an ideal, but not to be Wang Baoqiang.

　　In fact, many extras just want to "appear on camera". They don’t have a better plan for the future, or they dare not think too far. They can’t think about things beyond tomorrow. In front of the camera, "passers-by A" are scrambling to show their talents, and finally this has almost changed from an interview to a talent show. "I wrote a song myself. Let me sing it for you." A boy who looks like Shawn Dou shyly caught up with the previous request. He sang a song in praise of China, and the lyrics and songs all have some Zhang Mingmin meanings.

　　"I don’t want to be Wang Baoqiang, I have my own dreams." Xiao Jia said that his ideal is acting, as long as he can keep acting. He hates "who to be". In fact, most of the extras here are no longer fledgling children. Many of them are over twenty-five, and the oldest is over fifty. Most of them have been in at least two plays. Wang Baoqiang’s name is the most popular among them. When one of his peers becomes a lucky "chosen one", others will inevitably feel that they have a bright future.

　　The extras who have stayed at the gate of the North Film Factory for several years are already familiar with all the processes, and doing group performances is their way of life. Some of them have experienced the group performance life in Hengdian, and as the opportunity drifted to Beijing, the entrance of the North Film Factory became their new "office". They are familiar with each other and enthusiastically recommend each other. They are willing to let their peers receive the play and hope that their partners can also show their faces in front of the camera. There are also many people whose ideals are dead. There is a "passer-by A" who has been waiting here for fifteen years. Xiaojia said that he and Wang Baoqiang are friends, and they have been to the theater together and suffered together. The old man is far away from the lively young people, sitting in the shade drunk, holding a bottle of mineral water in his arms, which is 71 degrees protoplasm. Every day, I was so drunk that I almost forgot my name. He said he couldn’t act anymore and would go home in a few years. Xiao Jia said that he has been saying this for several years.

　　There are also roles in the group performance, and I meet old artists.

　　Whether doing group performances is a part of life or a group performance, another group of people just love it from the heart. In the crowd, there was a young man with elegant temperament. It was hot, and he was dressed neatly in a thin coat. The whole body’s wardrobe specially emphasized the sense of the times. Xiao Wu said that he was a graduate of local drama performance major and had a systematic performance training, but the crew was not so easy to find. He came to the gate of Beijing Film Factory to find his luck. I have a good job in my hometown, because I have been to a play by chance, so I want to come back for my passion and wait for another chance to try. Xiao Geng, from Liaoning Province, has been on a big show. He once played a villain in One Step Away, and his scene included Shu Qi and Ge You. He likes what he does very much, and hopes that he can really become a professional actor.

　　We accidentally met Cui Kefa, an old man, at the gate of the North Film Factory. In recent years, Cui Kefa, who moved Mazar out to play chess and enjoy the cool with the group performers, is a famous actor who was deeply impressed by many previous generations. He has appeared in The Great Turn, The Great War between Nanjing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, and so on. He is also an important role in the upcoming Pancake Man. In the movie, Cui Kefa plays an old man who loves acting wholeheartedly and even challenges Weiya with his old age. There is also an actress with white hair who comes almost every day. She used to be a singer of the Art Troupe and can sing Bel Canto songs in Russian. She is a special actress herself. When she is not on the stage, she is willing to stay with people who love singing and dancing in the North Film Factory to prevent herself from becoming a boring old man. Once someone comes to sing with a speaker, she will dance with the song and fly up her white hair and red silk scarf.

　　Perhaps it is these people who make the entrance of the old North Film Factory different from Hengdian. No matter how things change, they will not change. The factory has been demolished and the road has been repaired many times, close to the busy North Third Ring Road, but they have turned the roadside into an all-weather mini art troupe. Unlike people who come to wait for jobs, coming here every day is their way to save their dreams.

　　"No, I haven’t seen" I am a passerby ".I don’t have time and money." A "passerby" said. "I just want to act, life is very difficult, and I still have to stick to it for my dreams."

　　

　　General Secretary of the Supreme Leader emphasized in the party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress: "The key to building a socialist modern country in an all-round way and promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation lies in the party."

　　"The key lies in the party", which is extremely important.

　　The key to China’s success lies in the Party.

　　The most fundamental reason for the great achievements and great changes achieved in the new era in the past ten years lies in the fact that General Secretary of the Supreme Leader is the core of the CPC Central Committee and the core of the whole party, and in the scientific guidance of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the new era.

　　It is of great practical significance to embark on a new journey, meet new challenges and uphold the leadership of the party.

　　Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Party pointed out that from now on, the central task of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is to unite and lead the people of all ethnic groups to build a socialist modernization power in an all-round way, realize the goal of the second century, and comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese modernization.

　　With regard to Chinese-style modernization and upholding the party’s leadership, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader emphasized this in the party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress:

　　— — "Chinese-style modernization is a socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), which has both the common characteristics of modernization in all countries and the characteristics of China based on its own national conditions";

　　— — To put forward the essential requirements of Chinese modernization, the first thing is to "adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC)";

　　— — On the way forward, the first major principle that must be firmly grasped is "upholding and strengthening the overall leadership of the party."

　　Based on a profound analysis of our party’s historical position and tasks, the Supreme Leader General Secretary clearly pointed out: "As the largest Marxist ruling party in the world, our party must always win the support of the people and consolidate its long-term ruling position, and must always remain sober and firm in solving the unique problems of the big party."

　　Strike while the iron is hot. The key to building a strong party is that the party should manage the party strictly and comprehensively.

　　Facing the unique problems of the big party, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader in the Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Party asked the whole party to keep in mind two "always on the road": "strictly administering the party in an all-round way, and the party’s self-revolution is always on the road".

　　Facing the unique problems of the big party, the party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress made strategic arrangements — —

　　Adhere to and strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee; Persevere in casting souls with the supreme leader’s new era Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought; Perfecting the party’s self-revolutionary system; Building a contingent of high-quality cadres who can shoulder the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation; Strengthen the political function and organizational function of the party organization; Adhere to the strict tone to strengthen the discipline; Resolutely win the protracted battle against corruption.

　　Facing the unique problems of the big party, the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader made it clear at the beginning of the party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress: "All comrades in the party must keep in mind their mission, be modest and prudent, work hard, and be brave and good at fighting."

　　At the critical moment of starting a new journey, the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader warned the whole party with "Three Musts", highlighting the sobriety and firmness of the century-old party in the new era.

　　Embarking on the new journey of national rejuvenation, always facing difficulties with the spirit of rushing for exams, and continuing to forge and temper itself with the spirit of self-revolution, the Communist Party of China (CPC) will surely unite and lead hundreds of millions of people in China to win even greater victories and glory.

　　

　　Planning: Huo Xiaoguang

　　Lead writers: Huang Yue, Gao Lei, Sun Shaolong

　　Coordinator: Zhang Xiaosong, Hui Luo and Wang Xuan.

　　Vision | Editor: Jiang Xiao, Bao Yuhan

　　Xinhua News Agency produced domestically.

　　Produced by the first studio of Xinhua News Agency