Situated in east China's Jiangsu Province, Donghai County is widely known as the "hometown of crystal" due to its thriving crystal-related industry chain, which is driving the development of key sectors, including trade, tourism, manufacturing, and crafting.
In Donghai, crystal reserves are estimated at around 300,000 tons, accounting for more than half of the country's total.
Covering an area of about 450,000 square meters, and with a history of over two decades, the county's crystal wholesale market is home to more than 7,000 crystal-related retailers, and has become one of the country's biggest crystal trading hubs supplying both domestic and international markets.
Among the county's 1.2 million population, roughly 300,000 make a living out of crystal industry.
The industry generated an annual trading volume of 40 billion yuan last year, with over 60 percent attributed to exports boosted by live streaming promotion and e-commerce platforms. "We have witnessed a rapid increase in cross border online sales. The last quarter's revenue reached three million U.S. dollars, and on an annual basis, we have achieved a 300 percent year-on-year increase. The number of our live streamers has increased from 30 to over 100, and we are still hiring, the demand is real," said Zhang Leilei, manager of Jingyiyi Crystal Trading Company.
As part of the county's broader push to make inroads into global crystal markets, the local government launched the Donghai Crystal Cross-border E-commerce Trading Center in 2019 and has developed a digital service platform to comprehensively support overseas sales via cross-border e-commerce.
The initiative provides not only skill training programs, but also all-around services incorporating cross-border logistics, export customs clearance, foreign exchange settlement, and cross-border networks, creating a comprehensive industrial ecosystem that enhances the production efficiency while helps local suppliers expand their global footprint.
After integrating supply chains in the e-commerce trading ecosystem, online retailers no longer need to worry about excess supply as they do in ordinary e-commerce studios, which largely helps them keep costs low.
For retail live-streamers, they can promote and sell any product in the wholesale center just by using their phone.
Every day at around 22:00 local time, the live streamers in Donghai County would have just entered their busiest time. They set their sights on TikTok shoppers in the U.S. and Europe, hawking these crystal products with eyes on a potentially lucrative market.
Local manufacturers also uphold that price is not the only thing matters, as quality and variety are also key to maintain competitiveness. In 2019, the county was credited as a world craft city for crystals by the United Nations.
Though local crystal mining has been halted to protect the environment, various sources of raw materials from nearly 100 countries and regions worldwide, including Brazil, Uruguay, Madagascar, and Zambia are being brought back to the county for processing.
Data show that approximately 40,000 tonnes of raw crystal materials are imported annually to the county. There are many master artisans in Donghai who are ready to craft these raw materials into a wide array of crystal products.
The processing time for a masterpiece would be one to two years and it could cost as much as two million yuan.
According to Li Zheng, chairman of Donghai E-commerce Association, over the past few years, the local government has offered many preferential policies such as tax-reductions to attract highly skilled artisans specializing in crystal cutting, engraving, and other essential processes, to settle in the county.
These efforts continue to this very day.
"We are planning to build a crystal processing industrial park, which is expected to cover 2 million square kilometers, and we will continue to roll out more talent attraction policies focused on artisans to open processing studios in Donghai and ultimately integrate them into our supply chain," said Li.
Similar to other counties across the country, Donghai has had its own uphill battle - luring and retaining skilled workers. Much of this boils down to professional acquisition - or a lack thereof.
Li and the local crystal industry have faced e-commerce talent shortages due to a lack of qualified applicants and inadequate skills. To address the problem, Li said the county plans to further focus on e-commerce training and aims to empower more local people with practical and relevant skills.
"We will strengthen training and help enterprises communicate with their customers more efficiently and effectively. We'll also help them improve their customer service, and after-sales service to offer a better purchasing experience for the customer," said Li.
With ambitions of becoming a global hub for all-things-crystal, Donghai is striving to ensure that their products shine, both at home and abroad, and that their business ecosystem, continues to thrive.
Donghai County global hub for crystal trade, craftsmanship
