More than 47 years ago, Hong Zhaoshe started a clothing business with little more than a wooden door panel for a workbench, a single sewing machine and less than 300 yuan ($44) to his name. Like many small workshop owners in China at the time, he cut, sewed and sold garments himself, often sleeping just two hours a day.

"I always believe that by offering genuine goods at fair prices and doing business with integrity, the market would eventually recognize us," Hong said.

Today, his hometown of Jinjiang — a coastal city in Fujian province — manufactures one-fifth of the world's athletic shoes, one-fifth of its jackets and one-eighth of its slippers.

The transformation from clusters of family-run workshops into a global manufacturing center was not simply the by-product of globalization or low-cost labor. It was also shaped by an economic philosophy that emerged at a defining moment for China's private sector.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, as private businesses grappled with the uncertainties surrounding China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, Xi Jinping — then serving in Fujian province — made seven extensive fact-finding visits to Jinjiang.

In 2002, Xi summarized and put forward the city's development model into what became known as the "Jinjiang Experience" — a framework emphasizing commitment to the real economy, market-oriented growth, industrial upgrading, entrepreneurial resilience and government support tailored to local conditions.

The framework held that sustainable growth depended not on speculative expansion, but on balancing traditional manufacturing with technological innovation, coordinating industrialization with urbanization, fostering both small businesses and major enterprises, and allowing government to guide — rather than replace — market forces.

More than two decades later, it remains influential as China seeks to steer its economy toward higher-quality growth. The country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) calls for further developing the "Jinjiang Experience" and improving the comprehensive support system for private-sector development.

Hong, the businessman, now chairman of Fujian Seven Brand Fashion Technology, recalls a moment that tested those ideas.

By 1998, his company had accumulated modest capital, but the global apparel industry was rapidly shifting toward automation and standardization. Convinced that low-cost, semi-manual production would eventually become obsolete, Hong made what was then an enormous gamble: He invested $7 million to import advanced suit-production lines from Western Europe and establish rigorous quality-control systems.

During that transition, Xi, then deputy Party secretary of Fujian province, visited the company's production lines. Hong still remembers the visit vividly, describing Xi's manner as pragmatic and understated as he inspected the new equipment.

"His modest, down-to-earth and approachable manner deeply moved and inspired us," Hong said.

Xi encouraged the company to continue innovating, strengthen its brand and pursue international recognition. For Hong, the remarks amounted to a vote of confidence at a moment of financial uncertainty.

The once-humble workshop built around a wooden door panel has since evolved into one of China's best-known menswear brands.

"Since taking up leadership positions in the early years of China's reform and opening-up, I have worked in Hebei, Fujian, Zhejiang and Shanghai before coming to the central leadership," Xi, now China's top leader, said during a meeting with private entrepreneurs in February last year. "Throughout those years, I have consistently placed great importance on supporting the healthy development of the private economy and the growth of private entrepreneurs."

Li Ling, vice-president of Anta Group, said the company's rise into a global sportswear giant closely followed the direction laid out by Xi.

Li sees Anta's trajectory as reflecting a broader push for Chinese manufacturers to build globally competitive brands rather than remain anonymous contract producers.

When Anta was founded in 1991, Jinjiang's footwear industry was trapped in intense price competition, producing largely generic products. During a visit to the Jinjiang Footwear and Sports Industry International Exposition in 2001, Xi stopped at Anta's booth and urged the company to prioritize product quality and establish its own brand identity.

In 2019, during the annual session of the National People's Congress, and again at a symposium in 2024, Xi reiterated the same message to the company: Remain fully focused on the core business.

Guided by that philosophy, Anta spent more than three decades transforming itself from a local manufacturer into a global sportswear company — proof that industrial resilience is built through long-term accumulation rather than speculative capital.

Liao Meng, an associate research fellow at the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, said the focus on the real economy did not emerge in isolation. "It also required close coordination between private enterprises and government support," Liao said.

He contends that the "Jinjiang Experience" remains relevant because it links industrial growth with broader social development, ensuring that the wealth generated by manufacturing translates into stronger infrastructure, narrower urban-rural gaps and more tangible prosperity for local residents.

The next stage of Jinjiang's industrial transformation is already underway.

Zhang Zhenxian, general manager of Fujian Yuanlyu Energy-Saving Technology, confronted a mounting environmental challenge in Neikeng township, China's largest slipper-manufacturing hub.

The town's factories, which produce one-eighth of the world's slippers each year, consume roughly 2 million metric tons of EVA material — a versatile copolymer known for its lightweight, durable and soft qualities — each year, generating about 100,000 tons of industrial scrap historically destined for landfills or incinerators.

Recognizing an opening, Zhang launched an effort to build a closed-loop recycling system for EVA footwear materials.

The company invested 30 million yuan in its first development phase without any mature blueprint to follow or industry benchmark to emulate.

Zhang recalls suffering from severe insomnia, waking up multiple times each night worried that the company was pouring money into unusable recycled waste.

Yet the company persisted, driven in part by Jinjiang's long-standing culture of turning improbable ideas into viable industries. Today, it has signed closed-loop recycling agreements with 200 local enterprises.

What distinguishes Jinjiang today is not simply manufacturing scale, but industrial density — a tightly connected ecosystem in which raw materials, design, production and logistics operate within minutes of one another. For overseas buyers and industry groups, that concentration has turned the city into a global reference point.

"Jinjiang is probably No 1 in the world in sports shoe manufacturing," said Berke Icten, president of the Turkish Footwear Manufacturers Association, during a recent visit to the city.

What impressed him most, he said, was not only the scale of production, but the completeness of the supply chain.

"From materials to design to finished products, you can find everything here," he said, pointing to the city's sprawling materials markets and tightly clustered factories.

Ahmed Fawad Farooq, secretary-general of the Pakistan Footwear Manufacturers Association, described Jinjiang as one of the world's leading footwear exhibition platforms, particularly in athletic shoes.

Visiting the city for the second time with a delegation of about 15 industrialists, Farooq said that Jinjiang has become an important destination for sourcing raw materials, identifying fashion trends and studying emerging technologies.

"We come here to see new innovation and new technology," he said.

Contact the writers at xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn