The bigwigs of Taihe: Chinese county makes a fortune selling hair to Africa, The Caribbean, South America ( Brazil ) and America.
Hair today, gold tomorrow Fu’s heir, his 36-year-old son Fu Qianwei, has a company with the English name Anna and export sales of $8 million a year, mostly to the US.“Each country has different demands on length, thickness and quality,” the closely-cropped Fu said, as workers sewed and curled clumps of hair destined for Africa – often seen as primarily a source of raw materials for China, but which also buys its finished goods.“As Africa’s economy grows, the market is growing and moving towards higher quality,” he said, standing beside boxes filled with “Afro Curly” extensions, featuring illustrations of smiling black female models.In the factory, the hair is first disinfected in two huge barrels, before workers use paddles to stir clumps of strands in vats of steaming water.It is dyed in colours from blonde to black – via red and purple – before being dried in ovens, brushed and sewn into hair extensions by the mostly female staff.“I thread parts together, in a day I can do 1,500,” said Zhang Qing, 23, as she fed bunches of hair into a clattering sewing machine.Zhang Hongmei’s low stool was surrounded by piles of dyed red hair which she straightened with a large brush.Like most in the factory, she used to be a labourer in the fields. “If I wasn’t here I’d be working on the farm, but this work is less tiring and earns more money,” she said.Hair product manufacturing is “by far the biggest industry” in Taihe, says the younger Fu, and now local authorities plan to create a huge industrial park devoted entirely to the sector.Fu recalls growing up in the 1980s, “when we would be happy if we had rice rather than corn”.Now he employs more than 200 full-time staff and escorts foreign clients to dinners at pricey local restaurants in an imported car.“I owe my income to the hair industry,” he said. “Because the value of hair is so high, people call it black gold.”
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