At a children's clothing store in Zhili town, Huzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, store owner Liao Weilou and his colleagues were busy shipping children's T-shirts to clients. The shirts had arrived the night before from Wangjiang county in East China's Anhui province.

At a children's clothing factory in Wangjiang, over 400 kilometers away, factory head Wang Jianglin and over 10 workers were busy fulfilling an order. "We received the fabric last night, and production will be completed tonight before the clothing is sent back to Zhili," said Wang.

Zhili and Wangjiang are linked by the children's clothing industry.

At 10 pm the same day, Chen Zuoqun, a staff member of a logistics company in Zhili, was busy contacting clients. All the calls he received were from regular clients—owners of children's clothing stores. After learning their needs, he contacted delivery drivers and arranged for parcels to be picked up from their doorsteps. An hour later, Chen Zuoqun and his colleagues quickly loaded the parcels onto a truck. The goods were destined for Wangjiang.

"Today, I collected at least 50,000 to 60,000 parcels from over 100 stores," said Chen Zuoqun, adding that the goods included 3,000 T-shirts for Liao that had been cut and paired with accessories. He noted that the T-shirts would be completed and returned to Zhili within two days.

Currently, there are six logistics companies operating between Wangjiang and Zhili.

In the early 1990s, when Wangjiang first connected with Zhili, a "chemical reaction" occurred.

"At the peak, 100,000 people from Wangjiang were working in Zhili," recalled Zhuo Jie, director of the textile and garment industry development promotion center in Wangjiang. At the time, nearly every household in Wangjiang had someone working as a tailor in Zhili.

Around 2014, driven by family ties and favorable policies, many of those working in Zhili began returning home to start businesses or find jobs. According to Zhuo, over 90 percent of Wangjiang's over 3,500 children's clothing businesses were founded by these returnees.

"Zhili handles sales and Wangjiang handles production. I travel back and forth two or three times a month," said Liao.

By 9 am the next day, 3,000 garments of Liao had been delivered to five factories in Wangjiang. The entire batch would be completed by the end of the day.

One of the factories is owned by Wang Jianglin, who returned home in 2019 to start his business. "I provide steady jobs for more than 20 locals. Last year, we made 200,000 pieces—all sent to Zhili for sale."

In Wangjiang, signs reading various apparel factories line the streets. The hum of sewing machines is a most familiar sound for locals.

Fang Chunyan, a former worker in Zhili, returned to Wangjiang in 2023 to care for her child. "There are many stay-at-home moms like me. After taking our kids to school, we head to nearby garment factories to work." Though the income is lower than in Zhili, Fang is happy she can earn money and care for her family.

Besides garment production, many young people in Wangjiang are turning to e-commerce.

A few years ago, Chen Chao quit his job in Shanghai to start an online children's clothing business in Wangjiang. At his peak, he earned over 1 million yuan ($138,000) in a single year. In 2024, he founded an e-commerce company, bringing his entire family into the online retail wave.

In 2024, Wangjiang's more than 3,100 children's clothing e-commerce businesses shipped 139 million packages, with total sales revenue reaching 11.65 billion yuan.