全国最大的婚纱生产基地在这！网友：对象还没有，婚纱先安排好

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Prospects rosy for Anhui wedding dress industry

安徽六安：锦绣婚纱成就“幸福产业”

One day in early May, Sun Xiaolong and his fiancee walked into a wedding dress shop in a township in the city of Lu'an in East China's Anhui province.

五月初的一天，在安徽六安一个小镇，孙小龙和他的未婚妻走进了一家婚纱店。

About two hours later, the young couple walked out with three bridal gowns of Western as well as traditional Chinese styles.

大约两小时后，这对爱人从店里走出，手里拎着三件新娘服装，有西式的，也有传统中式的。

"The dresses cost merely 1,500 yuan ($223) while renting from a wedding service company would require much more," said Sun.

孙小龙说：“这些礼服总共只花费了1500元人民币，如果是从婚庆公司租，价格甚至还更高。”

With thousands of wedding dress factories and shops, the township of Dingji is one of the largest manufacturing and sales hubs in China.

坐拥数千家生产企业和商店的丁集镇是中国最大的婚纱礼服生产和销售中心之一。

Lu'an generally sells about 25,000 wedding dresses and other costumes each day, according to Yang Xuejun, president of Yu'an district's wedding dress industry association. He said most of the dresses are produced in Dingji township.

据六安市裕安区婚纱礼服协会秘书长杨学俊估算，每天大约有两万五千多件婚纱礼服等服装从六安市发往全国各地，大部分都是在丁集镇生产的。

The export value of the township's wedding clothes industry reached $40 million in 2019, according to one local official.

当地有关部门称，2019年丁集镇婚服行业的出口额达到4000万美元。

Xu Changying, a businessman, said his products have always been available in overseas markets, especially in the United States and Europe.

企业家许昌应说，他的产品一直在海外市场有售，尤其是在美国和欧洲。

"But it was very hard to know the trade volume, as the export business has been mostly done by intermediary companies from cities like Suzhou and Guangzhou," said Xu.

“但很难知道海外实际销售额，因为出口业务主要是由苏州和广州等城市的中间商完成的。”许昌应说。

Suzhou, in neighboring Jiangsu province, is the largest trade center in China for wedding dresses, with a domestic market share of about 70 percent. But Xu estimated that 60 percent of the products sold by Suzhou-based traders are made in Lu'an.

邻省江苏的苏州市是中国最大的婚纱销售中心，占据着国内市场约70%的份额。但是据许昌应估算，苏州企业所销售的婚纱约六成是在六安生产的。

"About 70 percent of businessmen and workers in Suzhou are from Lu'an. In recent years, an increasing number of plants have moved from Suzhou to Dingji" as more industry activity shifted there, said Xu, who moved back to Dingji in 2010.

“苏州婚纱产业的商人和工人中，约70%来自六安。近年来，越来越多的企业正在从苏州搬到丁集镇，使得丁集的这一产业越来越集中，”许昌应说，他本人的工厂就是2010年从苏州搬回丁集的。

Xu, a Dingji native, migrated to Suzhou in 1992 to work as a bridal gown factory worker. After accumulating production and sales skills, he invested more than 50,000 yuan in establishing a workshop in Suzhou in 1994, when the country's annual average per capita income for urban residents was merely 3,179 yuan.

许昌应是丁集本地人，1992年到苏州闯荡，成为一个婚纱工厂的工人。积累了一定的生产和销售技能后，他在1994年投资约5万元成立了自己的工厂。当年全国城镇人口的人均年收入还只有3179元。

"By 2010, my plant had nearly 50 workers, in contrast to the seven at the beginning," said Xu. "In around 2010, the monthly salary for a worker had climbed to about 7,000 yuan, while back in my hometown it would be less than 5,000 yuan."

“到了2010年，我的工厂有将近50个工人，而一开始的时候只有7个，”许昌应说。“2010年左右，一个工人每月的工资涨到了将近7000元，而在我的家乡只要不到5000元。”

Xu later returned to Dingji and established the town's first wedding clothes plant. And just as Xu had brought many fellow townspeople to work in Suzhou decades ago, they have followed Xu once again.

之后，许昌应便回到丁集创办了该镇第一个婚纱工厂。正如几十年前老乡们追随着许昌应去了苏州一样，现在大家又跟他一起回到了家乡。

In 2018, Suzhou launched strict fire control regulations in the area known as Street of Wedding Dresses. As a result, many businesses had to move out of the densely placed, owner-constructed buildings. The move pushed many business owners back to Dingji.

2018年，苏州对“婚纱一条街”地区开展了严格的消防整治行动。很多工厂的房屋都是自建的，分布十分密集，于是许多工厂不得不搬离。这一行动也促使许多工厂负责人选择搬回丁集。

The township currently has nearly 2,000 plants and shops related to the wedding clothes industry, which has attracted thousands of workers from other regions.

丁集镇目前有近2000家与婚纱礼服有关的工厂和商店，也从其他地区吸引了成千上万的工人。

"Now half of the township's 54,000 people are engaged in the wedding clothing business, either in Suzhou or locally," said Zong Qiyan, deputy Party secretary of Dingji.

“如今在丁集镇的5.4万人口中，约一半的人从事婚纱礼服相关的工作，有的仍在苏州，有的就在本地。”丁集镇党委副书记宗启焰说。

The wedding clothes industry in Lu'an reported an annual output value of more than 3 billion yuan in 2021, with Dingji accounting for more than 2 billion of that.

2021年，六安市婚纱礼服产业生产总值超过30亿元，其中丁集镇贡献了超过20亿元。

The local government has been building a specific zone for the industry, a project that will require a gross investment of 2.1 billion yuan.

当地政府正在建设一个专业的产业园区，总投资将达到21亿元。

Now about 5,600 people have moved from Suzhou to that zone. After the zone's completion in three to five years, the local government expects it could provide 50,000 jobs, with annual output value reaching 10 billion yuan.

如今已经有约5600人从苏州回到了这一园区。当地政府预计这一园区将在三到五年内建成，届时可以提供5万个工作岗位，年产值将达到100亿元。

"Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales have dropped significantly in the past two years, while we remain bullish on future growth," said Xu.

许昌应说：“由于疫情的影响，过去两年销售额大幅下降，但是我们仍然看好未来的增长。”

He kept an outlet for sales in Suzhou for his son to manage and set up a team of three designers in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

他在苏州保留了一个门店交给儿子打理，他在广东省广州市还保留着一个设计团队，有三名设计师。

In both the domestic and overseas markets, "designs with traditional Chinese elements such as a mandarin collar and embroidery have been increasingly popular", he said.

他说，不管是在国内市场还是海外市场，“带有旗袍领、刺绣等中国传统元素的设计越来越受欢迎”。

Xu said his company produces mainly middle-and top-grade wedding dresses, priced at about 1,000 yuan each for wholesale.

许昌应说，他的公司主要生产中高端婚纱，批发价在1000元左右。

"Nowadays, more and more young couples prefer to buy rather than rent their wedding dresses so that they can keep the dress," he said.

“如今，越来越多的年轻夫妇更愿意购买而不是租用婚纱，这样就可以把婚纱保留下来。”他说。

Wang Jifeng, owner of the shop that Sun and his fiancee visited, switched from selling regular clothes to exclusively wedding dresses in March. She said Western and Chinese styles are equally popular.

孙小龙和未婚妻光顾过的那家婚纱店店主王积凤，原本经营普通服装店，在今年3月转为专卖婚纱。她说，西式和中式风格的婚礼服装同样受欢迎。

While Wang runs only a bricks-and-mortar store, the Yu'an wedding dress industry association said about 80 percent of local companies operate solely online.

虽然王积凤只经营一家实体店，但裕安区婚纱礼服协会表示，大约80%的当地企业只通过电商平台做销售。

bricks-and-mortar：传统的实体企业

Zheng Xianjun, a local businessman, said, "E-commerce can reach more people, so as a result, locating in a small inland city like Lu'an is no longer an obstacle."

当地商人郑贤军说：“电商可以接触到更多的人，因 此，对于地处内陆的六安这样的城市来说，地理区位就不再是一个障碍。”

Local people said the industry has changed their lives.

当地人说，这一行业改变了他们的生活。

"Before the emergence of the industry, the elderly would usually gather together to play cards, but now they would rather work from home to make embroidery for wedding dresses," said Zhang Wenwu, vice-mayor of Dingji township.

“在这一产业兴起之前，当地的老人通常会聚在一起打打牌，现在他们更愿意在家里为婚礼服装做一些针头线脑的活，”丁集镇副镇长张文武说。

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编辑：朱迪齐

记者：朱立新

录音：Stephanie Stone

实习生：孟礼 张玺