The director of the post 90s factory told about the upgrading of the fireworks industry

Mondo Social Updated on 2024-02-12

"Bang! "Bang! "Bang! ”

Clusters of fireworks dragged the gorgeous flame tails into the sky, the firelight illuminated the smiling faces of the children, and the fireworks broke down, warming the cold night.

This is the scene that many people most want to see on Chinese New Year's Eve after a busy year, as if this moment can wash away the fatigue of the whole body.

More than 1,300 years ago, the ancestor of firecrackers, Li Jin, believed that setting off firecrackers could "drive away evil spirits" and create this industry that lasted for thousands of years; Looking up at the light and shadow in the sky now, we can still feel the spirit and spiritual comfort brought by fireworks and firecrackers to people after three years of the epidemic.

During this year's Spring Festival, large-scale urban fireworks shows caused thousands of empty alleys, and many people felt the long-lost flavor of the New Year in the fireworks. On the Internet, some bloggers threw tens of thousands of yuan to fans to "enjoy fireworks", and a box of four or five thousand yuan a box of Internet celebrity fireworks sold out.

In the hometown of the ancestor of firecrackers Li Zhen - the four major fireworks at the junction of Hunan and Jiangxi, the fireworks and firecrackers industry that began in the Tang Dynasty has been revitalized, bringing more than 100 billion output value to the local area.

Fireworks bloom, the return of the flavor of the year.

On the evening of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, just after the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, the auspicious family who celebrated the New Year in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, went out with "long guns and short cannons". After arriving at the location of the fireworks, the whole family lined up and six gatlings shot into the sky.

For this moment, auspiciousness has been preparing for a long time.

As a mother of a pair of 6-year-old twins, how to spend the Chinese New Year with her children is a question she has been thinking about. Twin brothers have encountered three years of epidemic prevention and control since they were more than 2 years old, and many times they have been confined to their homes and cannot go out.

Before the Spring Festival last year, the epidemic lockdown measures were completely ended, because they heard that the southern New Year was strong, and the Jixiang family went to Foshan, Guangdong Province to watch the lion dance.

This year, when there were two weeks before the Spring Festival, Jixiang went back to his hometown in Yancheng and asked relatives to help buy fireworks, "I'm afraid I won't be able to buy them if it's late."

After receiving the task, the relatives were very attentive and found fireworks at a good price in a store in the town.

* I was pleasantly surprised! A Gatling is only 40 yuan, and it soared to more than 100 yuan last year. Without saying a word, Jixiang asked someone to buy several boxes of fireworks.

The bigger surprise was the atmosphere of the fireworks on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve.

Yancheng used to have to drive to the suburbs if it wanted to set off fireworks. This year, we found that there are several locations in the city that have been set aside for fireworks. ”

Next door to an upscale community in the center of Yancheng City, there is still a flat vacant land to be developed, and many residents of the surrounding community come here to set off fireworks after dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve. It took 40 minutes for the Jixiang family to set off their own fireworks, and they stopped for more than an hour to enjoy the fireworks of other homes. "Within an hour or so, seven or eight groups of people came with Gatling and gift boxes. ”

The community is more tolerant of residents' behavior of setting off fireworks, and has also organized a special team to clean up the garbage generated by fireworks and firecrackers.

Such a relaxed atmosphere and lively New Year's flavor made the auspicious family enjoy the feeling of the New Year.

More than a month ago, Jiang Xue, a working mother from a foreign company who was busy with work, made a special trip to Kunshan to buy fireworks, fairy sticks, Thomas trains, Gatling, Peacock ......She spent 1,600 yuan to fill an entire trunk. "Last year, my 7-year-old daughter was clamoring for fireworks, and I was busy with work until Chinese New Year's Eve, and when I was going to buy fireworks, I couldn't find a place to buy them, and I want to fulfill her wish no matter what happens this year." ”

Jiang Xue found that there were more people buying fireworks this year: "There are hundreds of people in our mother's group, and everyone is discussing how to buy fireworks when the Spring Festival is approaching. ”

In Luoyang, Henan, Wang Ke, a 28-year-old bachelor, called a few good buddies and put two boxes of Gatling together. "In the past year, the development outside has not been very smooth, and a fireworks on Chinese New Year's Eve will feel like saying goodbye to bad luck and lifting spirits." ”

In the circle of friends, Wang Ke wrote: I am like a beam of thousands of fireworks, burning out for only a moment, but it is a unique light.

Shishi, who lives in Beijing, chose to take her family south to Zhuhai for a warm year during the Spring Festival this year, just in time for Zhuhai to demarcate a large-scale fireworks display area for the public for the first time after the epidemic.

I played for two hours, and the seaside was densely packed with citizens and tourists who came to set off fireworks, and everyone would collectively cheer for a small rocket to take off, and laugh together because of the blooming of a ceremonial flower, and the atmosphere was more enthusiastic than watching the fireworks show in Chimelong Ocean World! ”

During this year's Spring Festival, people are more in pursuit of excitement and New Year's flavor, and the spiritual comfort brought by beautiful fireworks, and the demand for fireworks and firecrackers has further increased.

The 100 billion industry has been reborn.

Interested consumers will find that the vast majority of the fireworks in their hands are produced in the "hometown of the four major fireworks" on the border between Hunan and Jiangxi.

Liuyang and Liling in Hunan Province and Shangli and Wanzai in Jiangxi Province produce 80% of the country's fireworks. In fact, these four places are not far from each other, the production area is connected together, all are located in the mountainous area at the junction of Hunan and Jiangxi, here is rich in raw materials such as soil nitrate, sulfur and other raw materials necessary for the production of fireworks, legend has it that Li Jin, who was born here in the Tang Dynasty, invented firecrackers, he is known as the ancestor of the firecracker industry.

Wu Wei, born in 1991, is already the director of a firecracker factory in Liling, Hunan Province, which has more than 300 workers and can create tens of millions of output value a year.

In the past, making fireworks was a handicraft that required intensive manpower. In Wu Wei's memory, during the winter and summer vacations when he was a student, he would go to the small workshop to help charge medicine, which was an opportunity for the old and weak women and children to earn pocket money.

At that time, in the eyes of the locals, although firecrackers were a generational industry, they were dangerous and dirty, and those who had the ability would find a way to leave and find another way out.

Almost every household here is engaged in this industry, and in childhood memories, many people have lost their lives because of accidents, some people have become bosses worth more than 100 million, and some people have lost their families, all of which depend on their lives. ”

Wu Wei is not good at reading, more than ten years ago, he went out to work, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong. Later, because he was unwilling to work as a laborer in the countryside on the assembly line, he returned to his hometown to rejoin the fireworks industry.

He started step by step from the bottom, just in time for industrial innovation, the local family workshop gradually disappeared, and the large factory went through rounds of safety rectification, the industry needs young people who have seen the world, Wu Wei was trained by the boss to be the manager of the factory.

Wu Wei caught up with the good times of this industry.

More than ten years ago, most of the best people in the market treated fireworks and firecrackers as negative, unsafe, noisy, air pollution, etc.

However, in recent years, people have paid special attention to the economic and emotional value that this ancient product can bring, and some places have begun to explore a new balance between environmental protection and fireworks consumption and industrial development.

On December 26, 2023, the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress stated that according to the provisions of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution" and the "Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China", there is no comprehensive prohibition on the sale and discharge of fireworks and firecrackers that meet quality standards, and local governments need to revise relevant practices. In addition to special areas, some places can set off fireworks and firecrackers moderately during the Chinese New Year.

As a "post-90s", Wu Wei often goes to various apps such as Douyin and Kuaishou to study the consumption trend of fireworks and firecrackers.

Have you noticed that in the past, everyone traveled to see the scenery or places of interest, but now consumers need more atmosphere, service or sensory stimulation, so the scenic spot began to support hot spring hotels and fireworks shows, etc., to try to retain tourists. ”

Wu Wei's perception is keen, only on New Year's Day and New Year's Eve in 2024, Shanghai Disneyland, Happy Valley, Tianjin Yujiapu and Xiangluowan, Guangzhou Sunac Park, Shenzhen Window of the World and Happy Waterfront, Hong Kong Victoria Harbour and Disneyland, Hangzhou Qiandao Lake and other scenic spots have held large-scale New Year-themed fireworks shows.

On Chinese New Year's Eve this year, at the Changsha branch of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, a fireworks show showed the unique charm of Hunan cultural tourism, pushing the atmosphere of the entire Spring Festival Gala to a climax.

On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Guangzhou Spring Festival fireworks display, which has been suspended for 12 years, bloomed again in Baietan, attracting thousands of empty alleys in Yangcheng. "It feels like everyone in Guangzhou has gone out to watch the fireworks. A Guangzhou citizen said.

Fireworks are not only becoming more and more popular, but they are also being played with new tricks. On the Internet, the science and technology blogger "Classmate He" spent 70,000 yuan to invite fans to "enjoy fireworks", and even bought a customized fireworks bomb that requires a discharge qualification certificate to operate, releasing the effect of a large-scale party.

This year's innovative product, the box-type fireworks "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", has been fried to four or five thousand yuan a box, but there are still many Internet celebrity bloggers who spend ** to buy ** everywhere, in order to live broadcast or cloud ** for fans.

In order to meet the needs of the market, manufacturers are also carrying out product innovation and developing more fireworks suitable for urban fireworks.

We call this type of product 'urban fireworks', which is characterized by a small dose of gunpowder, less danger and less pollution, which is suitable for children to play. Wu Wei said.

Driven by multiple factors, the "hometown of fireworks" ushered in a good situation. According to the statistics of Liling's local **, from January to June 2023, the fireworks industry in Liling City will achieve a total output value of 1043.7 billion yuan. If the figures of the peak season at the end of the year are added, the annual output value is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan.

Liuyang, Hunan Province, the country's largest producer of fireworks and firecrackers, has also experienced a similar situation, according to the data released by the people of Liuyang City last month, the output value of Liuyang's fireworks industry in 2023 has reached 508900 million yuan, more than double compared with three years ago.

The official of Shangli County, Jiangxi Province revealed in the "Ganxiang Border Firecracker Enterprise Brand Promotion Activity" held on New Year's Day this year that the total output value of the local fireworks and firecrackers industry cluster from January to November 2023 exceeded 13 billion yuan; Wanzai County** announced in early February this year that the fireworks industry will achieve an output value of more than 20 billion yuan in 2023.

Combined, the total output value of the four "firecracker towns" has exceeded 100 billion.

This 1,300-year-old industry, once considered a "sunset industry", has been revitalized.

Industrial innovation, safety first.

In the past two years, fireworks activities have become popular on the Internet, and the business of the production factory has also begun to "soar", and the villagers of the "hometown of fireworks" rarely go out to work, and basically return to their hometowns when they reach the age of starting a family.

The more than 300 workers in Wu Wei's factory are basically locals, aged between 30 and 50, and can earn 60,000 to 100,000 yuan a year.

Liling's fireworks industry has absorbed more than 100,000 employed people. "Although there is not much profiteering, it is enough to get rid of poverty and become rich, and reduce the number of left-behind elderly and left-behind children. Wu Wei said.

Many people see that the fireworks business has been booming in the past two years, and they think that this is a profiteering industry. Wu Wei feels that this is a misunderstanding - under the premise of ensuring safety and all compliance, the profits of this industry are not high.

Taking this year's Spring Festival as an example, although the orders could not be received at all, many customers took the initiative to find the door, but Wu Wei's factory had already stopped.

As long as ** asks to stop, we will stop immediately. Wu Wei told Yicai that for safety reasons, there are not many times in a year suitable for the production of fireworks, and work should be stopped in summer when the temperature is too high, and work should be stopped when the humidity is low and dry weather is low in winter.

Before the Spring Festival, fireworks and firecrackers are the largest production and sales season, and it is easier to be busy and make mistakes and ignore safety. Therefore, the local ** factory is not allowed to rush the construction period and overload production during the Spring Festival, and all enterprises are required to stop production step by step before the holiday.

In accordance with the requirements of the first class, black powder, fuse production enterprises in the Spring Festival ten days before the start of all process operations, firecrackers and fireworks production enterprises from the first twelve days of the festival to stop all 1Level 1 bare drug process operation. Wu Wei gave all workers a holiday 20 days before the Spring Festival and stopped work early.

Li Xin and Wu Wei are the same age, she is the assistant director and accountant of a fireworks production company in Liling, and she also settled the workers' wages about ten days before the Spring Festival and began to take a holiday.

The cost of ignoring the security deployment of the local ** is enormous.

In July 2023, the temperature in Liling is approaching 37 degrees Celsius, and in accordance with local requirements, fireworks and firecrackers manufacturers have entered a period of high temperature shutdown. However, an illegal small workshop in Banshan Town, Liling, saw that the fireworks business was booming in recent years, and it was still secretly producing on a hot day, and as a result, an accident occurred, resulting in many deaths.

For the production of fireworks and firecrackers, safety is an issue that has plagued for thousands of years. Behind the festive atmosphere that has brought festivals to the people of the country, many people have lost their lives.

Today, to do a good job in this industry, in fact, it does not mainly rely on those fancy marketing, nor on channels, the most important thing is safety, people-oriented, followed by the quality of products. With safety and quality, there is no need to worry about sales. Wu Wei told reporters.

Due to the fact that the factory often has to shut down according to regulations, the production capacity is limited, and fireworks are a seasonal commodity, the peak season of each year is from December to February of the following year, and the rest of the time is in research and development, production and storage. "This industry also has high requirements for dealers, requiring relevant qualifications, logistics and warehousing need to meet high-level safety standards, so the gross profit of regular dealers is between 20% and 30%. Wu Wei introduced.

For practitioners like Wu Wei and Li Xin, they have experienced first-hand the transformation of production models, from small family workshops to large-scale, mechanized factories to intelligent assembly lines.

Now it is impossible to have the situation of letting children participate in the loading, the production in the past was purely manual, there was no safety awareness, and no one came to train; Now there is a round of training, the production mode of the factory has changed to machinery-based, supplemented by manpower, and the drug-related process has strict safety specifications, and there are various safety devices such as anti-static system and sprinkler system. ”

After more than ten years of eliminating backward production capacity, our enterprises here have been included in the formalized and standardized production track, the accident rate has been greatly reduced, and the product quality has been guaranteed. Li Xin told Yicai.

According to the official information of Liling City, since about 2010, more and more fireworks and firecrackers automatic production lines have been completed and put into operation, and some companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the research and development of such production lines. The more advanced production line has completely solved the problem of personnel safety, and has core technologies such as flameproofing, drug delivery, and intelligent detection to achieve complete "separation of human and drug".

The traditional industry of fireworks is transforming and upgrading in the direction of automation and intelligence, and is booming.

There is no doubt that I am full of confidence in the future of the industry, and I am sure that this industry will change from a traditional industry to an emerging industry, ushering in its first era. Li Wei said.

At the request of the interviewee, the names of the characters in the article have been changed, **provided by the interviewee).

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