Walking Through Ganpo: Observations on County-Level Economy | Shangli County: Why Has the Millennium Fireworks Industry Thrived?

At the Junction of Jiangxi and Hunan

Where roosters crow across two provinces and leaves fall in three places

This small town, thriving and renowned for its fireworks,

holds nearly 1,400 years of firecracker-making history.

Once upon a time

Cutting paper, rolling tubes, loading powder, and inserting fuses

Every step relied solely on skilled hands.

With smoke curling upwards, the craft was passed down through generations.

Over time, it forged a unique industrial character.

Shangli fireworks today

Are exported to over 80 countries and regions worldwide.

The industry cluster's annual output value exceeds 20 billion yuan.

In 2025,

"Shangli Fireworks" was approved as a National Geographical Indication Protected Product.

Annual foreign trade exports of fireworks reached 2.149 billion yuan,

a year-on-year increase of 6.18%.

Behind these impressive figures

lies the millennium-old fireworks industry's

repeated transformations and breakthroughs.

The industry has gathered,

supporting facilities are complete,

safety is better guaranteed,

quality is more stable,

and market competitiveness is growing stronger.

Replacing humans with machines to unleash new vitality

The industrial landscape has been straightened out,

and the pace of innovation has widened.

Shangli leverages various sci-tech innovation platforms

to support joint research and development among industry, academia, and research institutions.

Accelerating the replacement of people with machinery, reduction of personnel through automation, and unmanned operations through intelligence,

driving product upgrades toward safety, environmental friendliness, and experiential features.

Smart Regulation, Safeguarding the Safety Line

For the firecracker and fireworks industry,

Safety is the bottom line and, more importantly, the lifeline.

As the industry continuously upgrades,

regulatory methods are no longer confined to tradition.

Shangli has shifted its approach,

adhering to equal emphasis on service and regulation, and parallel development and safety.

It has built and put into operation the nation's first

full-chain regulatory service platform for the firecracker and fireworks industry.

Constructing a closed-loop regulatory and service system

covering all links of firecracker and fireworks production, storage, transportation, and trading.

To date,

3,050 firecracker and fireworks industry chain enterprises nationwide have joined the platform.

Over 23,000 camera feeds from local firecracker and fireworks enterprises

have been connected to the Digital Shangli platform.

Equipped with AI algorithms,

it identifies various abnormal situations in real-time and provides early warnings.

Shifting safety control from "post-event accountability" to "pre-event prevention".

Regulatory upgrades

are also reflected in product traceability.

Each product has a unique traceability code,

leaving a full record from procurement and warehousing to sales and outbound delivery.

A comprehensive, all-weather smart regulatory safety net

safeguards the steady development of the entire industry.

Cultural-Tourism Integration, Expanding the Market

With a solid safety foundation,

Shangli firecrackers and fireworks are striving for broader markets and cultural spaces.

Leveraging the intangible cultural heritage gem of firecracker and fireworks making techniques,

Shangli insists on equal emphasis on inheritance and development.

Implementing the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Inheritor Doubling Plan",

building landmark carriers such as Li Tian Park, Firecracker and Fireworks Culture Expo Park, and Firecracker and Fireworks Trading and Exhibition Center.

Regularly holding firecracker and fireworks culture festivals and Li Tian worship custom activities,

keeping ancient pyrotechnic arts alive in the present and passed down through generations.

Culture is the root of firecrackers and fireworks, and also the bridge to the market.

Effectively leveraging both domestic and international markets,

Shangli is fully opening up land cross-border logistics channels.

Accelerating the construction of foreign trade infrastructure such as the Gan-Xiang Border Cloud Warehousing and Logistics Center.

Innovatively creating new "Fireworks + Cultural Tourism" consumption scenarios.

Regularly conducting Shangli firecracker and fireworks "China Tour" and "Overseas Tour" promotion activities.

Actively participating in industry exhibitions and international competitions.

Carefully undertaking various professional pyrotechnic display projects.

From scattered workshops to industrial clusters,

from manual craftsmanship to intelligent manufacturing,

from single products to cultural-tourism integration.

Millennium-old Shangli firecrackers and fireworks

have accumulated through inheritance

and broken through through innovation.

This firework rising from the Ganpo land

is now, with a new posture,

continuously blooming and shining brightly

on the path of high-quality county economic development.

Planner: Yang Yi

Reporter: Yang Yanfei

Sources: Yang Zhao, Ouyang Lin

Acknowledgments: Publicity Department of the Pingxiang Municipal Committee of the CPC, Publicity Department of the Shangli County Committee of the CPC, Shangli County Converged Media Center