Shopping festival boosts false eyelash industry in Qingdao

As online buyers and sellers are striving for a "big harvest" around the annual Nov 11 shopping bonanza, orders of false eyelashes have been soaring in factories in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province.

"Our factory produces about 10,000 sets of false eyelashes per day with an upsurge in orders," said Chen Chunjie, general manger at a false eyelash factory, on Wednesday.

The factory is based in Pingdu, a county-level city in Qingdao. The town of Dazeshan in Pingdu is home to about 860 false eyelash factories and their products account for about 70 percent in the world, according to local authority.

Chen said their factory could sell 100,000 to 150,000 sets during the "double 11" shopping season in previous years, which could result in about 3 million yuan ($453,222) in revenue.

"We have increased production output in advance in October, preparing for upcoming rising orders," he added.

Wang Haibo, general manger of another factory, said orders in his factory have recently risen 40 percent.

"We produce 4,000-5,000 sets of false eyelashes per day recently, compared with some 2,000 sets on ordinary work days," Wang said.

In recent years, Dazeshan township has made great effort to boost false eyelash industries. It boasts China's largest false eyelash production base, taking up 80 percent of production in the country.

Local government helps false eyelash enterprises tap into both domestic and overseas markets. The total yearly output value is estimated at 4 billion yuan.

An official plan of a featured industrial park for the false eyelash industry is being built, aiming to attract market players, such as e-commerce, decoration and logistics, to settle in and build a whole industrial chain, according to local government.