Yesterday, Bureau of Economy and Information Technology of Jiaxing announced that Jiaxing’s eight cocoon and silk projects such as digital upgrading, functional silk product R&D and brand promotion passed experts’ evaluations, securing 7.49 million yuan from the foreign trade development funds of the central government. Both the number of projects and fund amount ranked first in Zhejiang.  

As one of the birthplaces of silk culture, Jiaxing has long been hailed as “Land of Fish and Rice” and “Home of Silk” and is abundant in cocoon and silk resources. In recent years, its traditional industries with the silk industry as a representative has thrived.  

Tear off the “old label” for digital and intelligent development

At the exhibition hall of Jiaxin Jinsanta Silk Garments Co., Ltd., a wide range of garment and fabric samples are exhibited. Clients can find garments and materials of diverse textures and designs, and even finalize custom designs on the spot. This company’s functional silk product R&D and its digital and intelligent supply chain system are two of the eight projects mentioned above.  

Pointing to a kind of fabrics, a manager from this company said, “Our fabrics can absorb moisture and generate heat because they blend mulberry silk with far-infrared technology.” The company integrates R&D, digital designs, multi-channel promotion and smart logistics into a modernized silk production chain.  

On the designers’ computer screens, you can find a 3D virtual model rotating to display garments’ prototypes. “If a client requests a design in the morning, we can design the virtual sample dress on the same day,” said a manager from the technology center of the company. Traditionally, it takes at least one week to ensure garment materials, make patterns and post sampling dresses to clients, but now 3D modeling can complete all these processes within one hour, greatly shortening time, slashing costs and enabling clients to participate in the design for personalized customization.  

Digital innovation has been a core focus for Jiaxing’s traditional industries. Yaying Fashion Group’s project, i.e., digitizing the production, supply and sales of high-end Chinese-style silk apparel, is also one of the eight projects. After hard efforts, the company has spent a decade creating independently an integrated platform tailored to realize the design of top-end Chinese-style apparels.

“This platform enables designers to directly input creative inspirations originating from their daily clothing designs and photography into the R&D design database via AI algorithms, which ensures the design process meets clients’ requirements anytime and anywhere,” stated a manager from Yaying.  

Issue targeted policies to rejuvenate industrial development  

The integration of intelligence with traditional industries has injected robust momentum into local industrial development.  

“Traditional industries are a cornerstone of Jiaxing’s efforts to advance new industrialization, upgrade traditional industries, and build a modern industrial system,” said an official from Bureau of Economy and Information Technology of Jiaxing.  

How to rejuvenate traditional industries?  

Fully implementing favorable policies is pivotal to revitalizing local industries. Jiaxing has issued “Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Inheritance and Development of Traditional Industries” in August 2024; Bureau of Economy and Information Technology of Jiaxing and six other departments released “Detailed Operational Guidelines for ‘Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Inheritance and Development of Traditional Industries’” in January 2025; Bureau of Economy and Information Technology of Jiaxing has begun to establish the database for traditional industries since this April.  

Additionally, Jiaxing will offer funds to qualified enterprises applying for municipal-level sci-tech projects, and reward newly recognized provincial-level key enterprise research institutes and   provincial-level enterprise research institutes three million yuan and one million yuan respectively, and national-level, provincial-level and municipal-level “time-honored-brand” enterprises 300,000 yuan, 200,000 yuan and 50,000 yuan respectively, and reward the traditional enterprises that own provincial-level new, quality and highly valuable products 100,000 yuan, 300,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan respectively.

Supported by favorable policies, these culturally rich traditional industries have kept pace with the times and thrived anew. Those traditional industries also called “specialties” and “century-old” businesses are radiating new life and vitality.