Cash in cane, Hebei villagers crafting money-making chairs

From construction worker to factory manager, Qian Xiaosheng has found success in the cane chair industry.

Five years ago, the 37-year-old from Qianbeikou village－part of Dongzhangpu town in Handan, Hebei province－decided to leave Beijing, where he was working on construction sites as a bar setter. "I earned about 40,000 yuan ($6,164) a year," he said.

"That wasn't bad, but Beijing is far from home, and I missed my wife and baby."

In 2017, when he went home for the New Year holiday, Qian learned that an increasing number of villagers had started to weave cane chairs or were running cane factories, which paid well.

He decided to join them.

At first, Qian worked as a salesperson in a cane chair factory in a neighboring village. Through work, he discovered that customers needed other kinds of cane chairs that the factories weren't making. An idea began to crystallize.

In 2018, he decided to start his own business.

"The first thing I did was find experienced weavers to help design a dozen new chairs, including rocking chairs, dining chairs and recliners."

He set up a factory and sold more than 80,000 chairs in the first year thanks to his new designs.

Last year, his factory, which has 50 employees, generated a net income of 300,000 yuan. "That was beyond expectations," Qian said. "I will scale up and design more cane chairs to suit market needs."