Dushan Bearings: Small Parts Drive Major People’s Livelihoods, Enabling Returnees to Secure Stable Employment Close to Home

Release Date:

2026-04-20 11:47

Source:

On April 8, the assembly lines at Guizhou Fengda Bearing Co., Ltd. in Dushan County’s Bearing Industry Park were bustling with activity. Forty-four-year-old Cen Xianhui moved briskly between four production lines, inspecting each one with a testing tool in hand. Ten years ago, she was working hard to make ends meet at a bearing factory in Cixi, Zhejiang Province; driven by her concern for her young children, she decided to return home and has since risen to become the team leader of the assembly line here. “It takes only ten minutes to ride my electric scooter to the factory, so I can pick up my kids and take care of my elderly parents after work—such a sense of stability is something I never dared to dream of when I was working away from home,” Cen Xianhui said with a smile. She added that this small bearing, once her “ticket to a distant life,” has now become her “reliable anchor back home.”

On April 8, the assembly lines at Guizhou Fengda Bearing Co., Ltd. in Dushan County’s Bearing Industry Park were bustling with activity. Forty-four-year-old Cen Xianhui moved briskly between four production lines, inspecting each one with a set of testing tools in hand. Ten years ago, she was working hard to make ends meet at a bearing factory in Cixi, Zhejiang Province; driven by her concern for her young children, she decided to return home and now serves as the team leader of the assembly line here. “It takes only ten minutes to ride my electric scooter to the factory, so I can pick up my kids and take care of my elderly parents after work—such a sense of stability is something I never dared to dream of when I was working away from home,” Cen Xianhui said with a smile. She added that this small bearing, once her “ticket to travel far from home,” has now become her “reliable anchor back home.”

Cen Xianhui’s story is a microcosm of how Dushan County has leveraged its bearing industry to improve people’s livelihoods. In 2012, Cen Xianli, who had already established a factory in Cixi, was moved by an invitation from his hometown to “come home and work.” Upon his return, Dushan County not only secured factory premises and land but also offered preferential terms—three years of rent exemption followed by two years of rent reduction—and even helped him secure a loan of RMB 4 million. With this support, he raised capital to establish Fengda Company, which started with just four production lines and now produces 5 million bearings per month, two-thirds of which are supplied to the drone industry. Last year, the company’s output value approached RMB 40 million.

“In the early stages of our venture, we lacked essential supporting infrastructure and faced a talent gap, to the point where we almost decided to pull out and return to Zhejiang,” recalled Cen Xianli. The turning point came when the county government stepped up with enhanced equipment subsidies and attracted complementary supplier firms. Today, Fengda’s stainless-steel bearings have secured a place in the supply chains of leading drone manufacturers such as DJI and XAG, achieving domestic substitution in high-end applications.

Similar to Cen Xianli, Mo Yuansheng returned to his hometown in 2013 and initially started his business in a makeshift factory with only seven or eight employees. After focusing on bearing rubber seals in 2017, Guizhou Yuansheng Industrial Co., Ltd. experienced rapid growth: its equipment expanded from two dozen to more than 200 units, its factory space increased tenfold, and its workforce grew to 140 employees.

With industries taking root, local residents reap the benefits. Resident Lu Yueyuan and her husband both work at Yuansheng Company, commuting by bike for just five or six minutes from home to the factory floor. “We can save several thousand yuan each month now, so our child no longer has to be one of those ‘left-behind minors on the other end of the phone,’” Lu Yueyuan says. She adds that being able to accompany her child’s growth and care for her elderly parents is what brings her the greatest satisfaction.

“The park now produces more than one billion sets of bearings annually, with an output value of approximately RMB 800 million,” said Zhuang Hui, a staff member of the Dushan Economic Development Zone Management Committee. He explained that the local government has implemented a series of measures to ease the burden on enterprises, including offering factory rents at only one-fifth of those in Zhejiang Province, providing photovoltaic electricity at RMB 0.30 per kilowatt-hour less expensive than elsewhere, and launching specialized loans for bearing industry clusters. Employment is the most important aspect of people’s livelihood. According to Liu Bangwen, Deputy Director of the Dushan County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, the park currently employs about 1,500 workers, including 300 returnees from other regions and nearly one-third who were formerly living in poverty; the average monthly wage for unskilled workers is RMB 4,000 to 5,000, while skilled master craftsmen can earn as much as RMB 14,000 to 15,000 per month during peak seasons. To address the talent bottleneck, since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Dushan County has invested over RMB 2 million to organize 10 specialized training sessions on bearing skills, reaching a total of 425 participants. In April last year, the Qiannan Bearing Technician Vocational Skills Training Base, built with an investment of RMB 8 million, was put into operation, providing end-to-end practical training that covers the entire production process—from raw materials to assembly. From the previous “migrant worker boom” to the current “return-to-hometown entrepreneurship and employment boom,” Dushan County has leveraged a single small bearing to create a virtuous cycle of industrial development and improved living standards. As Cen Xianhui put it: “Having a stable job right at our doorstep means we can eat well and live comfortably.” This bearing, spinning steadily in the mountains, is supporting the steady happiness of countless families.

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