The humble button may not seem so significant -- unless you're in Qiaotou, China, where hundreds of factories produce more than 60% of all buttons on earth.
"We manufacture about 2 to 3 million buttons a day," factory worker Sun Yongliang says. And that's just his company, Mailifa.
According to Sun, China's recent economic slowdown hasn't really hurt button-town. "As long as there is human civilization people will have to wear clothes," Sun says. "And as long as there are clothes, there will be buttons."
Off to China? Download the eBook version of Lonely Planet's PDF China travel guide
China travel guide
Whether it’s your first visit or your twentieth, China is so big, so diverse and so fast-changing, it’s always an adventure.
Coverage includes: Planning chapters, The Great Wall, Beijing, Tianjin & Hebei, Shandong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zheijiang, Fujian, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Cruising the Yangzi, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Tibet, and Understand and Survival guide chapters.
You can pick and choose from complete guides and individual chapters, and download them to any device you like.
Check out more travel guides for China
"We manufacture about 2 to 3 million buttons a day," factory worker Sun Yongliang says. And that's just his company, Mailifa.
According to Sun, China's recent economic slowdown hasn't really hurt button-town. "As long as there is human civilization people will have to wear clothes," Sun says. "And as long as there are clothes, there will be buttons."
China travel guide
Whether it’s your first visit or your twentieth, China is so big, so diverse and so fast-changing, it’s always an adventure.
Coverage includes: Planning chapters, The Great Wall, Beijing, Tianjin & Hebei, Shandong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zheijiang, Fujian, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Cruising the Yangzi, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Tibet, and Understand and Survival guide chapters.
You can pick and choose from complete guides and individual chapters, and download them to any device you like.
Check out more travel guides for China