This is the Jiahe Pet Market in the Anshan Economic Development Zone. Every Monday and Thursday, businesses and "shovelers" from all over the country gather here to "import" their pets.
As a nationally recognized pet dog breeding and trading base, a nationally important ornamental fish market, and one of the country's important ornamental bird breeding and trading areas, Anshan's pet trade connects more than 20 provinces across the country, with an annual pet trading volume of more than one million, and an annual turnover of more than one billion yuan.
Pets are creating new bright colors in a city with a history of steel.
Using "pets" to eliminate "worries" and explore new business opportunities.
In the movie "Piano Song," Chen Guilin, a laid-off worker at a steel factory in Northeast China in the 1990s, sets up a band to perform at a red and white wedding. With a loud bang, the chimneys in the industrial base are directionally blasted, and the former turners, carpenters, welders and founders walk out of the factory gates to explore a new chapter in their lives.
The rise of Anshan's pet market can't be separated from this rich history.
Anshan City Bureau of Commerce market construction section of the Wu Lian recalled that in the 1980s, Anshan Iron and Steel workers "have money and leisure", dogs and cats to spend their leisure time. With the end of the 1990s, a large number of Anshan Iron and Steel subsidiary enterprises laid off workers were pushed into society, once the pet has become a spiritual solace; eager to start a business again, the workers also figured out their own dog business experience, from "shoveling officials" into "entrepreneurs".
Ma is one of them. Back in 1988, at the age of 28, Ma sold the first dog of her life. "At that time it was popular to have a Jingba, and because there weren't many of them, good-looking dogs were expensive. The legend of a Beijing bus for a house for a car also really existed." Ma recalled.
At the time, Ma still had a stable job at Angang Steel. Because he liked dogs, he raised one, not realizing it would make money. After making her first bucket of money by selling dogs, she bought herself a gold ring with a market price of 3,000 yuan, when her average monthly salary was only about 30 yuan.
A few more years later, Ma was laid off. To support her family, she began to devote herself to pet breeding. From the initial Pekingese to later Pomeranians, turquoise, bichon frise and chihuahuas, she now has more than 30 dogs in her family's first-floor yard.
"More and more people are keeping them, especially at that time when there were many laid-off workers in Tiexi District, and almost every household near the market kept dogs." Du Biao, manager of the Bajiazi Pet Trading Market in Tiexi District, Anshan City, said.
Anshan people's "dog trend" is also closely related to the gradual enlightenment of China's pet economy at the time.
In the 1990s, with the founding of the China Small Animal Protection Association, the change of the "ban" to "restriction" in many cities, and the development of various activities such as the Asian Pet Show, the pet economy accelerated, and many mainstream pet owners began to give their pets an emotional role, thus enriching their lives through their pets. Many mainstream pet owners have begun to give their pets emotional roles, thus enriching their lives through their pets.
In the face of growing market demand, Anshan's pet economy is quietly gathering momentum. In the beginning, there was no standardized market, and breeders concentrated in the wholesale market near the Wuyi Road overpass. As the market gained popularity, they hawked and traded on nearly 100-meter lots. Vendors from surrounding areas also sold well-colored pets abroad.
In the increasingly frequent transactions, the once amateur dog breeders are maturing and becoming more professional in raising and identifying dogs.
From his initial ignorance to his current master of dog discrimination, farmer Chen Xu makes nearly 200,000 yuan a year from selling dogs. "A lot of people have learned from me, and I've driven a lot of people to raise dogs."
Being "spoiled" and spoiled, embracing the big market.
"Raising dogs, China look at the northeast, the northeast look at Anshan." Du Biao said, Anshan has become one of the country's best pet, canine breeding and trading base, not only thanks to the "dog people" more than 30 years of hard work, but also thanks to the favorable climate and market environment in the Northeast.
In the eyes of many dog catchers, dogs in Northeast China have a unique advantage: when the weather is cold, the dog will take the initiative to hair to ward off the attack of the cold; the winter is long, so the dogs bred here compared with other dogs, the color of the coat is more bright, the bones and the body is more plump.
Du Biao set up eight pet markets in the early 21st century, guiding traders to form the habit of catching the dog market on specific days. At the beginning of the operation, Du Biao spent a great deal of effort to strictly regulate the venue, the development of pet market trading regulations, and gradually standardize the market order.
Coincidence. Not far from Du table to breeding ornamental fish famous LiSanTaiZi village, farmers and operators between the price competition, occupying the road business and many other phenomena, so that at that time has hundreds of acres of breeding base of the ornamental fish industry in Anshan looks a mess.
In 2002, at the age of 30, Shi Quancheng set up the Anshan Santaizi ornamental fish trading center, to help local ornamental fish farmers "to set sales", mobilizing practitioners to set up the Anshan Ornamental Fish Association, to protect the development of farmers and ornamental fish, to achieve the ornamental fish industry from the "single-handedly" to the ornamental fish industry. The development of the ornamental fish industry from " fight alone " to the collective self-discipline of the leap.
While Du Biao and Shi Quancheng are enjoying a boom in business, the pet market is also gradually upgrading its consumption. In addition to pet food, toys and clothing, many new pet industries and careers have emerged. From "clothing, food, housing and transportation" to "pet paradise", from "pet transportation" to "pet boarding", and even pet weddings and pet funerals, the pet industry chain continues to grow. Wedding, pet funeral, the pet industry chain continues to extend, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for the Anshan pet economy.
Nowadays, a dog from breeding to breeding, from trading to quarantine to transportation, in Anshan home and pet trading market can be completed in one stop. This cat and dog trading market, built in 2014, has incorporated the concept of an industrial chain from the very beginning of its construction. In addition to trading stalls, it also contains a number of services such as pet stores, pet quarantine and pet transportation.
In the southwest corner of the market, Liaoning Kaixi Inspection Co. is trusted by traders. This is the first third-party testing organization in China to provide quarantine certificates for dogs and cats in the pet trading market. Staff member Huang Shuang said every pet will go through layers of verification and obtain an animal quarantine certificate before it is shipped out to the rest of the country.
"It takes only two hours for the pets to be purchased, certified, packed and sent out." Leng Xueshuang, general manager of the pet, said thousands of dogs are flown from here to all parts of the country every day. For transportation convenience, Shenyang and Dalian airport offices have been set up in the market, and there are bus routes to Zhengzhou and Hebei.
Before leaving the market, many breeders walk around the Langsheng pet supply store near the gate. The 70-square-meter pet store is filled with hundreds of pet supplies, including pet toothbrushes, pet food and pet medicines. "I also have a nearly 400-square-meter warehouse that is almost entirely filled with goods. Let's put it this way, I can supply pet supplies north of the Yellow River here." Owner Liu Yuwei said proudly.
Pet breeding has also led to a boom in supporting industries. The first dog training base in Qianshan District, Anshan City, also opened a dog trainer skills training, and Liaoning Agricultural Vocational and Technical College opened a "peer class". Every year, students are admitted here to learn dog training skills on site.
Anshan pet economy started from breeding, breeding, gradually to the whole industry, clothing, boarding, hospitals, Internet + business continues to emerge. Cute pets carry the banner of transportation, pulling the city's economic growth.
Cross-border, industrial breakthrough is yet to be launched.
Bright-eyed, fluffy and beautiful, with professional lighting and sets, Corgi looks like a proud prince on camera. "1000 yuan", "1200 yuan", "1500 yuan"? In Su Shuai's live studio, viewers from all over the country are watching the auction of a corgi. Before the auction, Su Shuai made a comprehensive introduction to the dog's pedigree, appearance and quarantine.
This is a new business in Anshan's pet market in recent years. Many people sell their pets across the country through online displays.
Fu He, 35, has also tasted the sweetness of live broadcasting. By displaying and selling his ornamental fish online, he has fans in three northeastern provinces, Shandong and Henan, and his ornamental fish have been sold as far away as Hainan and Xinjiang. "Good times can sell 50,000 a month." Fu He said.
"After our screening, we can provide buyers with quality assurance and good after-sales service after sending them out." Su Shuai said more and more people like him are now exploring new outlets for the pet economy in Anshan. They have inherited the traditional craft of animal breeding from their fathers and are looking for more possibilities in the new era.
But, Anshan pet market to go to the "new blue sea", there are still many problems to be overcome: at present, the pet industry is still stuck in the upper reaches of the breeding and breeding industry chain, the added value of the goods is low; there is no "IP" effect, the pricing is always The limited scientific research capacity cannot keep up with the market demand, resulting in the specialty industry is still in its infancy.
Leng Xue knows this all too well. In the past few years, she has been to Hebei, Zhejiang and other places, the results have failed. "Others did it too early. It's hard for us to make dog food and cages."
But the investigations still gave her a lot of useful food for thought. For the pet industry, the country still lacks platforms and organizations for large-scale online sales. Anshan's huge pet breeding market is an indispensable basic element for online sales. "We will increase our investment in online sales this year and introduce more live-streaming talents to expand the influence and consumption power of pets in Anshan."
Not only market practitioners, but also the local government has realized the future possibilities of the pet economy and begun to gather all kinds of forces to support the development of the pet industry.
In 2020, the Anshan government signed an all-round cooperation agreement with the Great Wall Group. Each year, Anshan Pet Industry will focus on the resources and foundation of Anshan's pet industry and combine them with global pet market trends to launch pet exhibitions with different themes and characteristics, and promote in-depth cooperation between Anshan's pet industry and many professional associations and organizations at home and abroad in a wide range of fields.
The 4th Koi Competition in Liaoning Province, directed by the China Fisheries Association and hosted by the Santaizi Ornamental Fish Trade Center, was also held in October 2021 as scheduled. Exhibitors from several regions in China gathered in Anshan to bring out their own koi fish to compete at the show. Koi that won the competition doubled in value and orders poured in.
With the arrival of an aging society and a "companion economy," demand for pet ownership in China is expanding rapidly, and the future pet economy will be huge. According to Avery Consulting, by 2023, China's pet industry will reach 445.6 billion yuan. Anshan pet economy of more than 1 billion after the target is 10 billion market.
"We are also exploring step by step what kind of development model is suitable for the Anshan pet market." The deputy director of Anshan's Bureau of Commerce rolled said. In the future, Anshan plans to take advantage of its own iron and steel smelting to make up for the large gap in the production of pet cages, expanding pet supplies, pet medical and other related industries, lengthening the downstream chain of the industry, increasing the employment rate, relying on the Internet to further enhance the scale and level of Anshan's pet industry, so that the pet industry has become a new bright spot in the growth of the Anshan economy.