EVERY 22 seconds, a gear component of a children’s toy is made, checked, and transported to the assembly line of a workshop in Shantou, Guangdong Province, where about 400 workers deftly assemble and package the products. They will be sent to children across the world.

The workshop belongs to Guangdong Alpha Group Co. and is located in Chenghai District, dubbed “the capital of toys” in the city of Shantou.

As the toy industry continues to flourish in this coastal region, a complete industrial chain has been formed. More than 16,000 toy companies and individual businesses are operating in Chenghai.

“Chenghai’s toy industrial chain is so integrated that factories can easily find almost any toy part they need within the district,” said Wen Shuanghao, director of the Chenghai industrial and information technology bureau.

In 2019, the toy output of Chenghai hit 58 billion yuan (US$8.6 billion), accounting for 21.8 percent of the national toy output, and the district exported toys worth more than US$1.03 billion, 3.31 percent of the country’s total toy exports.

But the industry was hit hard by the outbreak of COVID-19, with many enterprises seeing their orders canceled and goods piling up.

“To help employees keeping their jobs, we didn’t completely cease production and none of them were laid off,” said Du Shaodong, general manager of Jia Xun Electronic Technology Co., adding that the toys gradually filled warehouses and the company canteen, so staff needed to eat outdoors.

As international demand shrank, the export-oriented companies had to shift their attention to the domestic market. Without domestic sales channels or experience, most were uncertain how to proceed.

Despite many obstacles, entrepreneurship has been driving locals to seek a way forward, with platforms facilitating domestic sales beginning to thrive.

Xiaoniao Cloud, an online toy display and ordering system developed by Guangdong Hoton Business Exhibition Co., has garnered over 30,000 views and 10,000 orders in less than four months. Some 1.65 million different toys have been added to the platform to build a massive online showroom that can be accessed online around the globe.

The local e-commerce industry association has also cooperated with the platform Jingxi to offer training programs and guidance for toy producers targeting domestic sales and promotions.

Hoton also joined hands with e-commerce giant Alibaba’s cross-border procurement platform 1688.com to hold a livestreaming event, which aimed to stimulate sales in an online setting popular among Chinese consumers.(Xinhua)