Occupying 90% of the Japanese market, Shandong Cao County has made the "afterlife economy" a future

Although I have long known that the Chinese have always had a very keen sense of business and are good at seizing opportunities, this little-known fact shocked me: most of the coffins used by Japanese people after death come from a small village - Cao County, Heze City, Shandong Province.

It is said that Cao County did not have the idea of ​​making coffins into an industry at the beginning. After all, although funeral supplies are a rigid demand, the better they are made, the more likely they are to attract strange looks from others.

However, Japanese customers were attracted by the abundant coffin materials here and the Chinese's large-scale logging capabilities, and they traveled thousands of miles to China just to persuade the Chinese to take over the business.

Indeed, Japan's current aging population is very serious. Compared with the baby economy, the so-called "afterlife economy" may be more in line with their needs. Therefore, Cao County and Japan have launched a large-scale coffin cooperation. In order to stand out, some township enterprises have even specially built their own teams in Japan.

The raw material used to make coffins in Cao County, Shandong Province is called Paulownia, which is the Paulownia that Jiao Yulu used to control sandstorms in Lankao. This kind of tree "grows into a pole in one year, becomes as thick as a toy in two years, and can be sawn into boards in three years."

After the sample was formed, it was in a typical Japanese style: a small window was opened on the head of the coffin, through which people could pay their respects to the deceased, and a tassel of the same color was hung on the small window, and the coffin was wrapped in light-colored cloth.

Moreover, these coffin companies can always get first-hand information about cultural customs and popular trends in various parts of Japan, and then use it in the coffin business. For example, they launch cherry blossom coffins during the cherry blossom season in Japan, make Internet celebrity pink coffins, and customize coffins according to various customer needs.

Its outstanding high-end customization capabilities even earned the gratitude of a Japanese elderly man: "Thank you for letting my soul rest in peace."

In order to make this business professional, new employees here have to take Japanese cultural etiquette courses in the first three months after joining the company. Some of the bosses' children will be sent to study in Japan, and after mastering Japanese, they will return to China to inherit the business and become the "second generation of coffins", specializing in making coffins for the Japanese.

After years of hard work, Cao County's coffins have occupied at least 60% of the Japanese market. In a Japanese variety show, someone said: 90% of the coffins in the Japanese market are made here.

But because many people don't know this, some Japanese who were committed to boycotting Chinese products had to sleep in coffins from Shandong, China after they died.

It is not just the coffin business in Cao County, Shandong. There are many cases where a township or county monopolizes an industry. For example, the wig business in Xuchang, Henan, has grown bigger and stronger through cross-border e-commerce, and is sold all over the world, occupying half of the global market share.

Zhengan guitars are exported to more than 30 countries and regions including the United States and Brazil, accounting for 20% of the Asian market, 30% of the American market, and 40% of the Brazilian market;

Huangqiao, the hometown of sesame cakes in Jiangsu, switched to making violins, accounting for 70% of the domestic market and 30% of the world market, and its more than 30,000 violin workers have an average annual income of more than 50,000 yuan.

There are still many miracles happening on the land beneath our feet.

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