China News Service, Wenzhou, September 6 (Shao Yanfei, Zhang Yicong) When the first spring breeze of 2026 blows across Oujiang, on the desk of Wenzhou Customs in Zhejiang, a stack of cross-border e-commerce goods lists are silently rewriting the narrative of the private economy of a city and even a country.
The wind blows up the green leaves, and the waves turn into gentle ripples. This pattern change has its roots deep in the fertile soil of private ownership in Wenzhou County. From September 8th to 10th, the 2026 Private Economy Innovation and Development Conference and the event of well-known private enterprises supporting high-quality development in Zhejiang will kick off in Wenzhou - this is not only a centralized review of decades of accumulation of Wenzhou's private economy, but also a stage for the innovative edge and confidence of Chinese private enterprises to face the world's spotlight.
Looking at the global coordinate system, the course of Wenzhou's private enterprises is undergoing a profound shift: from "product output" to "technology-driven", from "scale expansion" to "brand value". Behind this is a profound change with new productivity as the core and innovation as the first driving force. The driving force comes from two ends - one end is the endogenous consciousness of enterprises to compete in the market, and the other end is the forward-looking layout of government system supply. The two forces resonate at the same frequency and jointly outline a new chapter in the era of Chinese private enterprises from "going out" to "going up".
Moving towards the new: Climbing to the upstream of scientific research in the industrial chain
Wenzhou private enterprises are taking off the old label of "basic manufacturing" step by step, leaving a new footnote in the global supply chain using technological innovation as a pen and climbing upstream.
The story of Fuda New Materials Group began in 1994. For more than thirty years, we have been deeply involved in the field of electrical contact materials, from low-voltage electrical appliances to emerging electric power and new energy, from household cars to data computer rooms - product application scenarios continue to expand, and our sales network covers more than 30 countries and regions around the world.
In the first half of 2026, the company's overseas and high-end customer revenue was 696 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 99%, accounting for approximately 16% of total revenue, becoming an important engine for performance growth, and using this as a starting point to achieve a leap from import substitution to high-end breakthroughs.
Looking high and far, Fuda continues to increase its digital intelligence construction. It took six years to invest 200 million yuan to build a digital silver alloy wire workshop, with an annual production capacity of environmentally friendly wires exceeding 600 tons. Relying on more than ten sets of digital management systems, the company promotes quality management from "human defense" to "intelligent defense". In July 2026, Fuda was selected as the "Future Factory" pilot project in Zhejiang Province and will continue to move forward firmly towards the goal of full-chain digital intelligence.
Fuda is not alone. As early as 2019, Chint Group sent photovoltaics into the hinterland of the desert - realizing the grid-connected power generation of Egypt's 165.5MW photovoltaic industrial park. As a landmark photovoltaic project for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", the project image was printed on Egyptian currency and became a national business card. To this day, Chint Group's photovoltaic arrays are still taking root in Gobi deserts and mountainous shoals around the world, bringing clean power to energy-deficient areas.
In recent years, Chint Group’s photovoltaics have brought the gospel of green electricity to many countries around the world. In August 2026, the Kōwhai 170MWdc photovoltaic project in New Zealand, contracted by Chint Group, was connected to the grid for power generation. It is expected that the power generation can meet the electricity consumption of about 36,000 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 165,000 tons per year. It is one of the largest photovoltaic power stations in New Zealand currently, helping New Zealand to promote carbon neutrality.
Data show that in 2025, Wenzhou's "three new items" export volume consisting of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products will reach 8.16 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 94.3%.
Enterprises cannot move forward without the fertile soil of institutions. According to data from the Wenzhou Municipal Economic and Information Bureau, in the past three years, a total of 2.19 billion yuan in technical reform funds have been cashed in at the city and county levels, providing 39,000 acres of industrial land, preparing enough "food and grass" for private enterprises to innovate in science and technology, and broadening the "battlefield." What is particularly eye-catching is that Wenzhou is seeking space from the sky with the "Industry Going Upstairs" initiative, transforming 17,800 acres of old industrial areas, equivalent to 8,500 acres of new land, giving private enterprises a physical height to grow their innovative genes.
Looking across the province, Zhejiang is accelerating the construction of "415X" advanced manufacturing clusters. In 2025, the province will newly recognize 6,140 high-tech enterprises, bringing the total number to 49,000. As of now, the province has 278 national champion companies in individual manufacturing industries and 2,166 "little giant" companies specializing in new technologies, forming an innovative synergy where technology leads the development of private enterprises.
“Breaking” and “Establishing”: Industrial Reconstruction in the Wave of Intelligent Manufacturing
With the surge of artificial intelligence, intelligent manufacturing has gradually become a new beacon. How are glasses, shoes and clothing, Wenzhou's most recognizable traditional manufacturing industries, experiencing "breakdown" and "establishment"?
Entering the Red Dragonfly Shoes Industry, the AI vertical large model of shoes and clothing has increased design efficiency by 167 times and reduced costs by 67.9%. On the marketing side, AI automatic photo-taking agents have increased the efficiency of shoe sample shooting by 700% and reduced costs by nearly 80%.
"This is a revolution of 'fighting fast with fast'." Qian Fan, president of Red Dragonfly Shoes, described the "breaking and establishment" approach of AI empowerment. In his view, content creation for shoe companies will become the core driving force for product marketing, and AI just provides an efficient, convenient, and low-cost technical base.
Cornell Group's changes are more systematic. As early as 2001, Cornell has embarked on the road of corporate informatization reform; in 2016, it entered the digital reform stage; in 2023, the Xinlv Smart Factory was completed and became a "flexible intelligent manufacturing demonstration sample for Wenzhou's footwear industry."
"Change is the only constant." said Zheng Laili, President of Kangnai Group. Behind the seemingly calm "breakdown and establishment" is the endogenous tenacity of the company's continuous reform - since 2018, Kangnai has expanded from a single leather shoe to sports and casual shoes, and now non-leather shoe sales account for 70%.
The glasses industry is also being disrupted by AI. Ouhai District gathers more than 70% of Wenzhou's glasses manufacturing companies, and glasses, as a new carrier of intelligence, are becoming a new trend in the market. Entering Car Technology's smart translation glasses have received the first batch of orders for about 10,000 pairs in the North American market, and more companies are concentrating on the development of multi-scenario products such as sports monitoring glasses.
However, there are hidden worries in establishing first and then breaking down. The "AI + cross-border e-commerce" format is becoming increasingly mature, and the "one-person company + AI" model has also been verified by the market - individuals and enterprises compete on the same stage, the track is becoming increasingly crowded, and the shadow of homogeneous competition and low-price involution has quietly emerged.
"The development of the glasses industry has entered the 'deep water zone'." Lin Sudan, president of the Wenzhou Glasses E-commerce Industry Association, said frankly. The China Optical Internet Conference initiated by the association is preparing for the "China Optical E-commerce Alliance" to jointly reduce communication costs and avoid falling into the quagmire of low-price vicious competition by setting up "city chairs" in major industrial cities.
The gap between "breaking" and "establishing" is the "growing pain" of high-quality development of enterprises. In recent years, Wenzhou has explored a solution - selecting talents who understand both business and technology within the company and hiring them as "AI transformation officers"; dynamically updating external experts who are proficient in technology and understanding business and hiring them as "AI translators". The two forces join hands to promote the smooth shift of traditional enterprises from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing".
Taking root globally: from “selling products” to “building an ecosystem”
From being sales-oriented to operating-oriented, more and more private enterprises in Wenzhou are upgrading to an industrial ecology that is "rooted in the world" based on their natural genes of "traveling around the world".
In Yueqing, Wenzhou, the electrical appliance industry is highly concentrated, making private enterprises more determined. Andre Group is the epitome of this. Since the first overseas branch took root in Dubai in 2004, the company has built an efficient and accessible regional market response network relying on the advantages of 3 stores, 7 warehousing centers and ports. At present, the company has extended its branches to Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Russia and other countries.
"Really going global means that enterprises move from 'selling goods' to 'operating'." said Cheng Zhang, director of Andre International Business Center. Overseas operations require stores, factories, and warehousing facilities, and the team must be localized to resolve the acclimatization problems of cross-domain operations.
Faced with the pressure of high investment and heavy assets, Andre's breakthrough path is to break out of traditional sales thinking, leverage cross-border e-commerce platforms, use welding machine products as a breakthrough point, and continue to promote the brand globalization strategy. In 2025, the enterprise's cross-border e-commerce turnover will be approximately 60 million yuan, opening up a new development track for international trade for enterprises.
Enterprises cannot sail far without the east wind of policies. “Our goal is ‘good management and fast passage’.” Sheng Weishan, chief of the Wenzhou Customs Supervision Section, said that the customs continues to optimize policies and simplify the classification and declaration process in view of the characteristics of cross-border e-commerce with large and small batches. The “list declaration, summary verification” model has greatly improved the operational convenience of small, medium and micro enterprises.
In the same electric field, People's Electrical Appliance Group, as the industry leader, has chosen another path - the two-wheel drive of "manufacturing + investment". Zheng Jingjie, president of the Zhejiang Electrical Industry Association and chairman of People's Electrical Appliances, said that in the face of challenges, companies continue to break through the boundaries of traditional electrical manufacturing, extending their business to diverse tracks such as smart power, new energy, and semiconductors. They have established five major R&D bases and six major manufacturing bases around the world, building an industrial ecosystem integrating R&D, production, sales, and service.
At present, the situation of private enterprises in Zhejiang is evolving from "products" and "orders" to "chain collaboration". In the first four months of 2026, Zhejiang's imports and exports to countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 1.05 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%, accounting for 56.6% of the province's total import and export value.
"From selling 'apples' to planting 'apple trees' around the world, China's private economy will become the backbone of the world's advanced manufacturing." Hu Hongwei, distinguished dean of the School of Strategic Entrepreneurship at Zhejiang Gongshang University and rotating chairman of the New Media Committee of the Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Association, said in an exclusive interview with China News Service. Since the reform and opening up, the "Wenzhou Model" emerged at the historic moment, and to this day, Wenzhou continues to explore and innovate at the forefront of China's private economic reform.
The wind has risen and the sails are hoisting. The new story of Wenzhou's private enterprises is not only about the transformation of a city, but also reflects the transition of the times in manufacturing in a big country.
