How To Print The Most Ink Flavored Small Town in China All Over The Country?

When it comes to the most "ink flavored" places, you may think of many old towns and villages. But today we are going to introduce the small city with the most ink flavor in the physical sense: Longgang City, located in the southeast of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province and known as the "Chinese Printing City".
This newly developed city, covering only 183.99 square kilometers, gathers 886 enterprises holding printing business licenses and 47000 related market entities. In 26 industrial parks of all sizes in the city, thousands of various printing machines operate day and night. The viscous ink is "awakened" by the high-speed rotating rollers, leaving colorful marks on materials such as paper, plastic film, sheet, adhesive or non-woven fabric. After further processing, they are sent to various parts of the country. When they reach people's hands, the fresh ink smell is still clear and recognizable.
Starting from scratch, there is no 'imprint' of a good village
More than 40 years ago, Longgang was still a small fishing village located between mudflat and mud. The reform and opening up brought the first ray of spring breeze of change to this land. As one of the typical examples of the first batch of "farmer town" experiments in Zhejiang and even in China, Longgang took the lead in exploring the paid use of land and the reform of the registered residence system, attracting the surrounding specialized households and 10000 yuan households engaged in printing industry. It is in this context that the printing industry has taken shape in the emerging rural areas, becoming the "button" for the rapid launch of the local industrial economy.
The rise of a group of small workshops is not achieved overnight, but the result of long-term accumulation of market demand, geographical advantages, and interpersonal networks. The population, resources, and supporting advantages brought by urbanization have accelerated the growth and transformation of small workshops, and the printing industry chain continues to extend and interweave along the streets and alleys, ultimately outlining the embryonic form of China's most dense industrial cluster.

In 2002, the awarding ceremony of the "China Printing City" was held in Longgang; In 2008, Longgang Shuguang Printing became a printing material supplier for the Beijing Olympics; In 2012, three Longgang printing companies made it onto the national printing top 100 list; In 2016, the first China Printing City (Longgang, Wenzhou) Printing and Packaging Equipment Professional Exhibition was held in Longgang. From then on, the name Longgang merged seamlessly with the two characters of printing.
It is this bottom-up economic vitality that has made Longgang rich and strong, laying the industrial foundation for the later "town to city" reform.
Make it bigger and stronger, leaving a lasting impression
In 2019, the "China Farmers' City" developed from five small fishing villages finally achieved "town to city" transformation in the process of new urbanization. At the same time, the printing and packaging industry has been developing and growing, becoming a landmark industry of Longgang. With the upgrading of the market and changes in consumer structure, there is a driving force for transformation and technological upgrading: intelligence, customization, and industrial chain extension.
The practical path of Zhejiang Qinggengyu Reading Industrial Co., Ltd. is a good example of transformation. According to General Manager Lin Kailuan, the company will customize admission letters for different universities based on their unique characteristics and local culture, providing a one-stop service from design to production. At present, the company has cooperated with multiple universities, including Zhejiang University of Technology, Jiaxing University, as well as schools outside the province such as Southwest Jiaotong University and Beihang University. This type of customized business demonstrates Longgang Printing's practical path from mass production to differentiation, from OEM to branding.
In the process of making the admission letter, a wonderful fate was also imprinted.
Lao Lin has been working for seven years in the clear plowing and rainy reading industry. Every crease and hot stamping in the workshop is so familiar that he can do it with his eyes closed. Last year, coinciding with his son's college entrance examination, Lao Lin often showed his son the finished notification letter he had made, hoping to provide him with greater motivation.
When the admission results were announced, Lao Lin's eyes turned red in the corner of the workshop. His son's admission to Jiaxing University was the project that his team had devoted their heart and soul to.
The ink smell in the workshop mixed with the salty taste of sweat, but the most familiar scent became the happiest memory. Lao Lin held the paper in his palm and slowly rubbed his fingertips along the silhouette, as if depicting the outline of his son's future: those days and nights of rushing to work finally turned into surprises sent by fate on a small notification letter.
Give me a 'smacking' sound, and a new 'print' will be made in the circle

While customization and industrial chain continue to mature, Longgang Printing is not just synonymous with assembly lines. The rise of the cultural and creative industry has provided printing with more "youthful" application scenarios. In recent years, standing on the new trend of trendy economy, traditional printing enterprises in Longgang have also transformed and upgraded on the basis of their original industrial chain.
As of now, Longgang has over 1000 cultural and creative enterprises. From January to July 2025, the output value of the trendy toy industry in Longgang City will exceed 2.5 billion yuan, an increase of about three times compared to the same period last year, accounting for about one-fifth of the entire printing output value.
Whether it's stickers, circulation cards, or trendy toy packaging, many products can be produced and matched in Longgang's printing factory. Nowadays, there are more than 100 companies that have entered the trendy gaming track, among which Longgang Jiufen Printing Company can be said to be at the forefront.
Huang Xiuzhen, the general manager of Nine and a Half Printing, has a history of entrepreneurship from flyers to acrylic. She and her younger brother Huang Guangsheng once worked hard in Shanghai, and their days were mostly scattered advertising flyers. Business was like a tide that came and went.
By accident, Huang Guangsheng was attracted by the "anime" culture. While expanding their hobbies, the sister and brother thought of expanding their business to the animation surrounding "millet". In 2021, Huang Xiuzhen relocated the company back to Longgang, where the complete printing industry chain is like a natural runway, allowing them to start faster.
But creating a "valley circle" is not as simple as just printing goods: betting on the right IP is explosive, betting on the wrong one may result in losing everything. Huang Xiuzhen has been working on this track for more than ten years and has summarized a set of "business strategies": she not only needs to polish her technology into sharp blades, but also knows how to accompany the growth of IP and fans.
Nowadays, the acrylic and card products of the game "Arknights of Tomorrow" are mostly exclusively produced by Huang Xiuzhen's company. This has also made 'Nine and a Half' a business card on the supply chain of Longgang's' Valley Circle '.

In addition to the anime, Longgang Printing has also worked hard on the "periphery" of cultural and creative works. In the recently highly anticipated "Zhejiang BA" basketball tournament across the internet, companies represented by "Nine and a Half" not only made gas bars for fans, but also designed Zhejiang "BA" limited edition "bar" cultural and creative products for twelve counties and cities in Wenzhou based on the unique cuisine of different regions, which were well received by fans.
Intelligence has improved efficiency, while the cultural, creative, and trendy industries have pushed printing towards the track of design, high added value, and emotional consumption. The dual drive of technology and creativity has enabled traditional industries to find new growth points.
Relying on the cultural and creative platform built by Jiufen Half (Zhejiang) Printing Co., Ltd., Longgang is upgrading the printing industry from a processing workshop to an innovative highland of culture and creativity. Through in-depth aggregation of anime core circles such as animation, comics and games, and promotion of the "UGC+PGC" collaborative production mode, Longgang City is promoting the transformation of traditional printing enterprises to high-value, lightweight peripheral products such as acrylic and art colored paper.
The manufacturing capability that was originally won by quantity has been transformed into flexible production capacity that can quickly respond to personalized needs. At the same time, the supply chain centered around Longgang has driven a large number of light peripheral entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized manufacturers to enter the market, rapidly forming a "small batch+customized" production ecology. This series of innovative measures has achieved a cross-border expansion from "traditional manufacturing" to "trendy and intelligent manufacturing".
Ink+Bookish Fragrance, A New Image of Printing
Industry to cities should not be just numbers on the ledger; When factories become exhibition halls and products become exhibits, the memory of the city can be shared and inherited more widely. After the town was abolished and the city was established, Longgang not only focused on urban construction, but also continued and transformed the cultural characteristics of the printing city.
In 2024, the living room of Longgang Printing Town will be officially opened to the public. The small town living room fully explores the connotation of Longgang's "printing culture". It not only has a distinct theme and showcases Longgang's pillar industry, but also integrates the cultural symbols of "printing" characteristics, the "park style" town life, the "open" display scene, and the "integrated" office space, bringing unique cultural experiences to citizens and tourists.
In the newly built government living room of Longgang after its establishment, a city study with the theme of "printing culture" has also been created, aiming to imprint Longgang's printing culture into people's hearts and shift the perspective from the benefits brought by printing to the cultural significance contained in printing.

In addition, on the bustling streets of Longgang, an old water tower with citizen memories has been transformed into a city study, becoming a typical case of combining industrial relics with public cultural spaces. The abandoned water tower of this old water plant is wrapped in modern transparent box architecture and integrated into a brand new study. It not only retains the industrial style, but also serves as a venue for cultural salons and book clubs, bringing a new "ink fragrance" to the city.
When the ink smell of printing meets the paper fragrance of the library, the industrial memory of the city can be continued and digested by cultural consumption: this is a manifestation of the mutual empowerment of economy and culture.
To achieve long-term success through the combination of "printing" and "winning"
Printing is both the past and future of Longgang. In the rapid evolution of the times, Longgang has not been abandoned by changes in demand. On the contrary, this city has demonstrated its advantage of being "young" through intelligent upgrading, cultural and creative grafting, IP cooperation, and cultural space construction, and has printed its business card nationwide. As stated in the commentary "Cultural Empowerment Reshaping Space" by People's Daily on Longgang Water Tower, if the city can focus on cultural empowerment and reshaping public cultural spaces in its renewal, it can enhance its connotative development and residents' quality of life.
From printing factories to libraries, from ink fragrance to book fragrance, Longgang has not only achieved economic takeoff, but also gradually completed identity reconstruction at the cultural level. In the future, it is worth continuing to observe and track whether Longgang can transform the "ink flavor" into a more competitive cultural brand and industrial business card.
After the tide recedes, mudflat are left; But on the mudflat, it is no longer that deserted small fishing village. This small city does not rely on the taste of old houses to tell stories like ancient towns, but instead prints away, imprints, and brightens the memories of the city one by one.