Chapter 134 Printing - This is truly a treasure!
The Canton Fair lasts for three weeks and is divided into three phases. After five days of exhibition, there is a two-day break for maintenance and setup of the booths. The export sales representatives participating in the Canton Fair are all carefully selected. Each export sales representative must have a haircut and manicure before the exhibition and undergo certain etiquette training.
In the 1970s, many domestic products were exported overseas, such as household items like bicycles, thermos flasks, sewing machines, alarm clocks, toys, musical instruments, as well as Jiefang brand cars, Hongqi sedans, and so on.
The main products at the third phase of the Canton Fair were textiles and toys and musical instruments.
“Sister-in-law, we’ve come at just the right time. A couple of days ago, I heard that those foreign buyers couldn’t find a place to stay and had to sleep in the lobby and corridor of the guesthouse!”
"After some people left, the number of people has increased again in the last two days."
"At the beginning of this year's Canton Fair, there were more than 10,000 overseas buyers! This autumn Canton Fair will also have tens of thousands of buyers!"
Thankfully, they had letters of introduction and reserved rooms in the guesthouse accordingly; otherwise, they would have had to sleep on the floor in the lobby like those overseas buyers.
"I heard that the Canton Fair is the most crowded time in Guangzhou every year, and you can see foreigners everywhere."
In just 21 days, tens of thousands of overseas buyers entered China to participate in the Canton Fair and purchase goods, making it a grand event in Asia.
Since 1971, the number of overseas buyers at the Canton Fair has exceeded 10,000. Due to the normalization of diplomatic relations with Liberian in 1972, about 2,300 Liberian buyers came to this autumn Canton Fair.
However, these Liben buyers tend to purchase printed silk products in the textile sector.
Yang Zhixia and Manager He led a team to set up the booth and communicate with the exhibition's sales representatives. On the day before the opening, almost everyone in the factory was awake, looking forward to the opening the next day.
At six o'clock that morning, most people were awake, some with dark circles under their eyes, clearly having not slept all night.
Upon arriving at the exhibition venue, we found it already packed with thousands of buyers from nearly a hundred countries, all entering the exhibition hall to the strains of rousing revolutionary songs.
Li Jinling leaned closer to Qin Xiangxiang: "Sister-in-law, it still feels so grand! It's definitely worth coming to such a grand place."
Qin Xiangxiang held her child, swallowed hard, and felt a little anxious, worried that the salted fish T-shirts from their textile factory might not sell.
On this day, Qin Xiangxiang was wearing a red dress, which was one of the clothes displayed by their textile factory. Because there were not many garment factories in this era, or rather, there was basically no need for garment factories in the country, so large textile factories all had corresponding garment workshops, and garment factories were often attached to textile factories.
As for why there aren't many large garment factories, it's because ordinary people in China can't afford ready-made clothes. They can't even afford much ordinary cotton fabric throughout the year, let alone expensive ready-made garments.
Many families have sewing machines, and housewives choose to buy fabric to make their own clothes or find small tailor workshops in villages and communities to help them make clothes.
A piece of cloth is cheap, but a ready-made garment can easily cost ten or twenty yuan, which is equivalent to half a month's salary for an average person. It's not something that the average person can afford.
Only in big cities like Shanghai can you see such a booming market for ready-made clothing, especially for "Dacron shirts" that cost just over ten yuan a piece, which attract many citizens to queue up overnight to buy them.
Ordinary people could only afford a few cents for a T-shirt, which was the most popular clothing among working people.
In the 1970s, T-shirts were a relatively uncommon type of clothing. A plain T-shirt cost around two dollars, and men almost never bought T-shirts, opting instead for sleeveless undershirts that cost nine cents.
T-shirts are considered casual wear by many people, and they are relatively expensive, so they are mostly exported.
But at this time, T-shirts were very popular abroad.
In China, many people cannot afford T-shirts. A plain T-shirt costs two yuan, and if you add a simple hand-printed one, the printing cost will increase by three to five yuan. So a T-shirt can cost five to eight yuan, or even more than ten yuan. The more complex the print, the more expensive it is.
Buying undyed, unprinted white cloth to make clothes at home is the most affordable option for ordinary people, who might also buy some undershirts.
Domestic clothing currently does not require printing, but overseas customers do pursue "printing". Therefore, most of the textiles and clothing displayed at the Canton Fair have printing.
"Sister-in-law, so much silk! My goodness, real silk! Only the wealthy could afford to wear silk clothes in ancient times!"
"They're all silk, silk clothes, but what's printed on them?"
"Sister-in-law! The silk fabric has a tractor printed on it! And a hoe! And a sickle too!"
...
Haha, even in her dreams, Qin Xiang never had the chance to visit the Canton Fair in the early 1970s, but now that she was at the Canton Fair, she couldn't help but laugh because the ancient silks and satins were printed with tractors and various farm tools.
Printed silk satin is a relatively high-end and expensive fabric, but when printed with "tractor", it appears somewhat abstract.
Foreign nobles love printed silk fabrics, but here, many printed silk fabrics feature agricultural tools such as tractors, sickles, and hoes. Wealthy people abroad are unlikely to be interested in wearing silk clothes with tractor prints.
According to the sales representatives at the trade fair, silk printed fabrics for agricultural tools such as tractors have been consistently slow to sell.
Qin Xiangxiang: "The printed salted fish in our factory looks pretty good."
After seeing the silk fabrics on the tractor, Qin Xiangxiang realized that their factory's "salted fish printed T-shirts" were at a normal level at the Canton Fair and did not seem out of place at all.
Because they work in an island factory, it's not unusual for them to have "salted fish" printed on their clothes. Salted fish is a cheap food that is relatively close to the diet of the general public and is an important resource for the survival of island residents.
It can be said to be a unique feature of the island, and there's nothing wrong with that.
"Sister-in-law, the printing in our factory is already very beautiful!"
"puff--"
Their salted fish print is supposed to be a "cartoon print," and there were quite a few cartoon prints at this Canton Fair, but the colors were too bright and the designs weren't cute at all.
After casually strolling around the Canton Fair, Qin Xiangxiang felt incredibly confident, finding the prints on their salted fish T-shirts to be elegant, refined, and unconventional.
In addition to the textile factory, the last exhibition also featured various children's toys. Because Qin Xiangxiang was holding a child, she was given a traditional ethnic doll by the booth. Xiao Suisui was very happy holding the doll.
“Our Sui Sui was born on the fifth day of the first lunar month, she’s a little god of wealth.”
"Factory manager, please take the child to our booth immediately."
Feiyan Textile Factory is a small factory located on a remote island. Even if it has the opportunity to participate in the Canton Fair, it is relegated to a remote and obscure place, where there are no buyers even browsing around.
Seeing that no one was coming over, Yang Zhixia felt a little nervous at the booth. She was wearing a simple T-shirt and hadn't put on a jacket, even though it was getting chilly.
If this weren't at an exhibition, she would have loved to shout out her wares.
However, most overseas buyers come specifically for printed silks, even if they don't buy anything, they want to have priority to admire the expensive silk products.
The buyers from Liben came specifically for the printed silk, but when they saw the pattern, they were dumbfounded. "What is that printed on? A sickle? Printed silk with a sickle???"
"There's also a tractor here."
"Is this a hoe?"
...
Qin Xiangxiang and Chen Shulan's group couldn't understand what the foreigners were saying. Some of the sales representatives also couldn't understand, as many of them only knew English and needed to rely on translators.
What's all that noise over there?
"It seems that the buyers from Liben want the printed patterns on the silk satin to be changed."
...
Knauf from Hans is one of the buyers at this year's Canton Fair. He is participating in the Spring Canton Fair for the first time in the first half of the year. His family business mainly imports inexpensive clothing and serves local chain supermarkets in Hans.
His target for purchasing at the Canton Fair was inexpensive cotton shirts. The cotton shirts at the Canton Fair were 30% cheaper than those in other countries, giving them a significant price advantage. Therefore, after visiting once in the spring, he continued to come in the autumn to prepare for further purchasing cooperation.
He wanted to buy some simple printed cotton shirts, preferably with simple geometric stripes or floral patterns, but after looking at many prints along the way, he shook his head repeatedly.
He had already found a partner for the blue and white diamond print in the first half of the year, but he wanted to choose some other prints. To avoid prints with political symbols, he preferred floral or cartoon patterns.
Knauf shook his head: "These cartoon characters are not cute at all!"
"Could these floral patterns please avoid using such bright red and green colors?"
...
As he strolled around, he made mental assessments and unknowingly walked to Yang Zhixia's booth. He was immediately drawn to the salted fish print T-shirt.
Knauf: "...Is this a cartoon image?"
This fish is so cute, it looks like it's relaxing in the sun, exuding a sense of ease and happiness that makes people feel relaxed.
Moreover, upon closer inspection, this salted fish reveals a remarkable level of sophistication within its simple strokes, capturing the spirit of the fish with just a few strokes, possessing an artistic beauty.
Upon closer inspection, it even has a sense of sophistication.
Knauf was stunned. He had actually found an artistic cartoon print among all the bright red and green prints! This was truly a treasure!
Moreover, this image of a happy little salted fish doesn't involve any political symbolism; rather, it represents everyday food for the general public, making it as approachable as flowers.
"This print is so high-end!"
"Was this designed by a master artist? And there's such a story behind it? That's amazing."
"I need to order this dress!"
Feiyan Textile Factory welcomed its first buyer, Knauf from Hans, who placed a trial order of 5,000 pieces and, after confirming the quality, increased the order to 100,000 pieces.
Yang Zhixia was stunned: "The next 100,000 pieces?"
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