City in Jiangxi feathers its nest by embracing down jackets

Liu said the technological transformations have shortened employees' work hours and increased wages and efficiency. "In the long run, it is a good thing to reduce costs and increase efficiency," he said. "It is also the embodiment of new quality productive forces in traditional industries."

China National Commercial Information Center data shows that the down jacket apparel market increased from over 100 billion yuan in 2018 to about 156.2 billion yuan in 2021.

Gongqingcheng is also extending its production reach outside China.

In 2018, a company in the Gongqingcheng Export Clothing Industry Park signed a cooperation agreement with a Georgian foundation to construct a modern down jacket manufacturing plant in Georgia. In 2021, Gongqingcheng's down jacket apparel exports reached $32.76 million, compared with $14.58 million in 2017, an increase of 125 percent.

"We now plan to leverage the Belt and Road Initiative, and cross-border e-commerce to sell our down jackets to northern Europe and even colder places," Mayor Liu said.

The ducks bred for commercial purposes have disappeared after Po-yang Lake stepped up its conservation efforts in recent years.

Nowadays, the down jacket manufacturers in the city import their feathers from across the country.