THE LAST HELLO KITTY: A toy manufacturer’s 28-year history of changes. Qi Guanghua rarely spent this Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong, so he seemed a little disappointed.

?I still remember the scene where the warehouse was full of stuffed dolls.

?On September 26, 2012, this 63-year-old Hong Kong man who has run a toy factory for decades told our reporter, ?In the blink of an eye, they all disappeared.

At this time in previous years, Qi Guanghua should be the busiest, because he has to rush for Christmas orders at the Wanlilai Toy Factory in Longgang, Shenzhen. Wanlilai Factory manufactures various models of HELLO KITTY, or sells this all-in-one toy factory.

The world's most famous cartoon cat image is glued onto gift boots, and shipments often number in the tens of millions.

These HELLO KITTY usually present a bright and pure image, holding a delicate bag and wearing a beautiful bow on their head.

However, their manufacturer’s role in the profit chain of international processing trade is not glamorous: in 2012, a pair of apple-high gift boots that Wanlilai supplied to Japanese traders at a price of less than 3 yuan were sold on Japanese shelves.

The price listed above is over 30 yuan in RMB.

Despite this, the business of OEM for Europe, the United States and Japan has still accompanied Qi Guanghua for nearly 30 years, from "Hong Kong Manufacturing" to "Longgang Manufacturing", from success to difficulty.

The best days have passed. Qi Guanghua and his colleagues now often use the word "endurance" to describe the plight of labor-intensive factories in the Pearl River Delta.

In the end, some of them chose to stay, and some had already left.

Qi Guanghua is no longer suffering.

More than two months ago, he officially closed down the Wanlilai toy factory and laid off the workers.

From now on, these lovely HELLO KITTY will no longer be born in Longgang, Shenzhen.

Qi Guanghua said that when he watched workers from the scrap company enter his factory and smash the machines into scrap metal to sell, heartache immediately came to his heart. But, I really can't see the hope of continuing?

Hong Kong to the north Qi Guanghua's office is located in an old industrial building in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, an area once known for its developed light manufacturing industry.

The floors were empty, making the three one-meter-tall HELLO KITTY dolls particularly eye-catching.

They were placed in the elevator room and at the entrance of Qi Guanghua's trading company, becoming signs and business cards.

Qi Guanghua has set up a factory here for nearly 10 years.

In his early years, he majored in textiles and had the experience of studying at the Japanese Consulate, which prompted him to roll up his sleeves.

However, in 1985, when he entered the industry, Hong Kong factories were already showing signs of moving north. Therefore, the Enterprise Registry Office told me that most of the people who came (registered) were closing their factories, and you still opened them? At that time, Kowloon Bay was very busy.

Like the later Shenzhen Longgang, simple factory buildings can be seen everywhere, and container trucks bump on the bumpy cement road.

Qi Guanghua's toy business started here.

He bought a half-story industrial building for HK$300 per square foot, and together with his wife hired workers to knock out some toys specifically for export.

?When Hong Kong people of our generation work in factories, all of them are 7-11 (meaning going to work at 7 a.m. and leaving get off work at 11 p.m.), both the bosses and the workers are like this.

In those years, enough diligence and savings meant prosperity.

?Qi Guanghua recalled.

He and his wife also went to New York, Nuremberg and other places to participate in toy fairs and advertised in trade magazines in order to reduce the intermediate links in exporting.

At first, Qi Guanghua targeted electric toys that required technical capabilities, such as electric trains that can emit smoke.

This kind of toy can be sold for more than 200 Hong Kong dollars per body before leaving the factory, and the front end can be sold for six to seven hundred Hong Kong dollars.

With the development of the factory, Qi Guanghua later started to make hair-planted blow-molded toys, another type with a slight technical threshold.

In the 1980s, the export processing industry in the Pearl River Delta was just getting started.

The competition faced by Hong Kong toy manufacturers is much smaller than it is today.

Qi Guanghua said that in the manufacturing and export business back then, he could earn a gross profit of more than 30%, which was comparable to that of middlemen.

However, a few years after opening the factory, Qi Guanghua felt the pressure to move north because he could no longer hire, or could not afford, suitable workers.

In the 1990s, the wages of skilled workers in Hong Kong's manufacturing industry were approaching five figures, and Hong Kong began to strictly implement labor laws, which made factory owners even more excited.

?Once when we were rushing to deliver goods, I organized workers to work overtime.

At that time, factories in Hong Kong were required to declare overtime work, but I failed to declare it. Six people from the Labor Department came to guard each exit of the factory and counted the number of people working overtime. Each person was fined HK$500 and I was fined.

?Qi Guanghua’s memory is still fresh. ?Compared to the later mainland China, this kind of supervision was too serious.

? But Qi Guanghua still hesitated for many years about moving the factory from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.

Qi is a cautious person, and his wife has never liked mainland officials who take off their shoes to discuss business with you. However, the pressure of business finally forced Qi Guanghua and his wife to move to Shenzhen and move to Longgang.