**2022: From Scattered Pilot to Three-Pronged Progress**

In 2022, facing a turbulent international landscape and the recurring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ankang City fully implemented the overarching requirements of "keeping the epidemic at bay, stabilizing the economy, and ensuring development safety." With a focus on stabilizing the economy and employment, and taking the high-quality development of new community factories as the main thread, the city resolutely maintained the achievement of over one thousand such factories, concentrating efforts on improving quality and efficiency, ensuring that the "flower of happy employment" blooms across the land of Qinba and Hanshui.

From "Scattered Sparkles" to "Three-Pronged Progress": A Clearer Development Path

As an organizational model that emerged in Ankang to provide employment for relocated communities, new community factories evolved from scattered pilot projects to a widespread network. They played a vital role not only during the poverty alleviation period but also continue to be crucial in consolidating and expanding poverty alleviation achievements in the rural revitalization phase.

By the end of 2021, Ankang had successfully established over one thousand new community factories, marking a new stage of industrial development. In the new year, the "2022 Citywide New Community Factory Quality and Efficiency Enhancement Action Plan" was formulated, proposing a development path of "optimizing policies, attracting superior enterprises while phasing out the weak, fostering leading enterprises, strengthening and extending industrial chains, addressing shortcomings, and accelerating development." The grand blueprint laid out at the beginning of the year was transformed step by step into a vivid and detailed reality.

A view of the Ankang Plush Toy Cultural and Creative Industry Innovation Base.

Recruiting a single enterprise is not as effective as recruiting an entire industry. Looking back at the development of new community factories, we started with the initial processing of agricultural and sideline products, and electronic component processing. Now, the widely promoted development model of "Industrial Park Headquarters + New Community Factories + Family Workshops" has achieved initial success. Driven by leading enterprises in plush toys, socks, and electronic wiring harnesses, new community factories have maintained strong vitality. "Family workshops," focusing on sock knitting and electronic wiring harnesses, have developed in an orderly manner, with growing employment numbers, a substantial increase in comprehensive output value, and a multiplied growth in export earnings, marking a transition from quantitative accumulation to qualitative improvement.

This year, the development of Ankang's new community factories has entered a new phase of quality and efficiency improvement. The "leading goose" – the plush toy industry – has taken the lead. With the completion and operation of the Shaanxi Anbeisi Plush Toy Industry Chain Incubation Park, all raw and auxiliary materials can now be produced locally, forming a basic closed loop for the plush toy industry chain. Daily production capacity has risen from 800,000 units at the end of last year to 1 million units, establishing Ankang as the fourth largest plush toy production base in China. The emerging electronic wiring harness industry has also taken shape, with the industry chain becoming increasingly complete with the overall advancement of Kangda Electronics. By the end of 2022, the city had 1,039 new community factories in operation, employing 36,420 people and achieving an output value of 7.064 billion yuan. A total of 826 plush toy (and sock knitting) enterprises (points) had been established, employing 17,993 people and generating an output value of 5.167 billion yuan. A total of 231 electronic wiring harness enterprises (points) were established, employing 5,827 people and generating an output value of 1.297 billion yuan.

From "Picking Up Any Job" to "Selecting Carefully": More Precise Investment Attraction

In the initial phase of new community factories, Ankang mainly relied on returning skilled workers to spontaneously undertake simple processing with their technology, capital, and orders. As development deepened, Ankang seized the opportunity presented by Jiangsu-Shaanxi poverty alleviation cooperation to actively undertake the transfer of industries like plush toy cultural and creative products (and socks) and electronic wiring harnesses, achieving a development trajectory from nothing to something, and then from something to excellence.

Entering a new stage of development, Ankang assessed the situation, broadened its perspective, and broke through difficulties. Leveraging the existing industrial advantages in plush toys (and socks) and electronic wiring harnesses, it transformed its investment attraction strategy. It focused on both "going out" to attract investment and "bringing in" key projects, aiming to extend, supplement, and strengthen the industrial chains. The primary goal was to address weaknesses, further boost industry growth, thicken the industrial chain, and continuously enhance its resilience and irreplaceability.

On June 8, Ankang successfully held the 2022 Plush Toy Industry Chain Key Project Centralized Production Launch Ceremony, where 16 enterprises across 5 key projects simultaneously commenced production. On September 9, Party Secretary Wu Wengang announced at the city's third-quarter key project promotion site meeting: "I hereby announce the commencement of 80 projects, including the Ningxian County Xianlang Electronic Wiring Harness Industrial Park, and the commissioning of 136 projects, including the Hengkou Anbeisi Plush Toy Industry Chain Incubation Park!" This greatly boosted confidence in the city's efforts to promote plush toy and electronic wiring harness projects. On November 1, a special investment promotion conference for the Ankang Plush Toy Cultural and Creative (and Sock Knitting) Industry Chain was held at the China Western International Expo City in Chengdu.

Wang Longjun, Director of the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, promotes investment in Chengdu on November 1.

This year, Ankang has designated the plush toy cultural and creative (and sock knitting) industry and the electronic wiring harness industry as key industrial chains. Focusing on breaking the "two ends outside" industrial structure, the city is striving to develop both ends of the value chain's "smile curve." It is fully advancing the "Deepening Industrial Project Construction Year" initiative, continuously deepening open investment promotion, and concentrating on extending, supplementing, and strengthening the chains. The launch and operation of leading enterprises such as Korea's Deokrim International, Zhejiang Haili, Disney's headquarters factory, Ningbo Hefan, Jiangsu Runshi, and the Xianlang Electronic Wiring Harness Industrial Park are propelling the new community factories, particularly in plush toys (and socks) and electronic wiring harnesses, towards clustering, high-end development, and distinctive specialization. In 2022, the city attracted 23 key projects in the new community factory sector, securing 376 million yuan in investment. Ankang's experience in chain-based investment promotion was featured in a special report by the Provincial Department of Commerce.

From "Building a Nest to Attract Phoenixes" to "Helping Phoenixes Soar High": More Robust Industrial Momentum

To promote the high-quality development of new community factories citywide, in recent years, we have adopted a development approach centered on "coordinated planning, targeted support, whole-industry-chain investment attraction, and comprehensive services." We formulated and released the nation's first "Local Standards for New Community Factories" and specific support policies, focusing on building standardized factory spaces. We introduced the "New Community Factory Loan," jointly established a dry port, and launched the "An-Xi-Europe" railway service. One after another, these business-friendly policies have attracted numerous enterprises to the Qinba hinterland.

Attracting investment is the foundation, but nurturing enterprises is the key. To help businesses grow and form a competitive cluster, Ankang's new community factories aim to "build new communities, cultivate new industries, promote new models, forge a new workforce, improve new functions, and create a new life." We are making every effort to accelerate enterprise development and industrial upgrading.

This year, Ankang formulated the "Ankang Plush Toy (Sock Knitting) Industry Chain Chief System Work Plan" and the "Ankang Electronic Wiring Harness Industry Chain Chief System Work Plan." It also issued the highly supportive "Several Policies for Continuously Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Plush Toy Cultural and Creative (Sock Knitting) Industry," introducing 12 specific reward and support measures to drive high-quality development in this sector. A one-time incentive fund of 10 million yuan was granted to 10 enterprises. The Ankang Electronic Wiring Harness (Information) Industry Alliance was established, accelerating the development of this industrial chain and highlighting the multiplier effect of industrial clustering. We successively conducted the third New Community Factory Skills Competition Finals and held the "Ensuring Safety, Greeting the Grand Event, Moving Towards the Future" fifth New Community Factory Touring Lecture, significantly enhancing employees' professional skills and morale.

The fifth citywide New Community Factory Touring Lecture at the Hanbin District venue.

In recognition of Ankang's contribution to developing the plush toy cultural and creative industry, the China Toy and Juvenile Products Association awarded the Ankang Municipal Government the "Outstanding Contribution Award for Building a Plush Toy Industry Cluster." Our new community factory initiative also received the "National Excellent Employment Service Achievement Second Prize" from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The case study "Focusing on 'Small Toys' to Cultivate a 'Big Industry' and Embarking on a New Path of Rural Revitalization in the New Era – Jiangsu Changzhou-Shaanxi Ankang East-West Industrial Collaboration Poverty Reduction Case" was selected as a "Global Best Poverty Reduction Case." Glorious titles such as the "New Capital of China's Plush Toy Cultural and Creative Industry," the "New Base of China's Electronic Wiring Harness Industry," and the "Global Capital of Plush Fashion Toys" have been successively established, making Ankang's new community factories an increasingly renowned calling card.

The municipal government receives the "Outstanding Contribution Award for Building a Plush Toy Industry Cluster" from the China Toy and Juvenile Products Association.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Ankang, poised for takeoff with a clear development path, targeted investment direction, and a favorable business environment, will surely capitalize on the momentum of the successful 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. By continuously focusing on chain-based investment, digital empowerment, cross-industry integration, brand cultivation, and market expansion, it will further promote the high-quality development of new community factories, facilitate high-quality and full employment to advance common prosperity, and make new and greater contributions on the new journey of comprehensively advancing Chinese-style modernization to build a happy Ankang!