Tableware maker charts new growth path

After more than 30 years of growth in East China's Fujian province, Lin Chi-te, chairman of Zhengshi Tableware Co Ltd, wants to build his company into a century-old enterprise and pass it down to future generations.

Lin, 56, said his family and friends are very optimistic about the vast mainland market that has a population of more than 1.4 billion.

"In my opinion, there is probably no better investment environment in the world than here on the mainland," he said in an interview with China Daily. "The potential for the knives market on the mainland is enormous."

Chinese mainland has set no threshold for investors from outside, and there also is no preferential treatment for investors from outside the mainland, Lin said.

Lin, together with his wife and children, followed his father Lin Kuo-chung in settling down in Zhangzhou's Changtai district, Fujian, in 1993. He has been working and living in Fujian for more than three decades ever since his father established the company in Changtai that year.

"At the time, the country had introduced many preferential policies to attract offshore investment and the local investment climate was very attractive and had broad development prospects, although the area surrounding the company was covered with dirt tracks, and chickens and ducks were seen running around, creating a very primitive picture," Lin recalled.

After decades of development, Lin's company, which has more than 200 employees, grew from a small workshop into a modern enterprise with sufficient production capacity and scale.

The company now has industrial land area of more than 20,000 square meters as well as a standard factory and office building space of more than 15,000 sq m.

About 55 percent of its products are sold on the mainland and about 40 percent in Taiwan province, while the rest are exported to Japan, the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia, according to Lin.

Last year, a Taiwanese investor friend in the mainland asked Lin for help in repairing a cutting tool, he said.

"The handle of the knife had been broken, but he was still using it. He asked me to help weld and sharpen it," Lin said.

"When I saw it, it turned out to be a knife we had produced in Taiwan province 40 years ago. This also strengthened our determination and confidence to become a century-old enterprise," he said.

For decades, Lin said his company had persisted in using unique manufacturing processes. Special kitchen knives that professional chefs use are usually produced with special, manual forging techniques that are favored by a large number of consumers worldwide, he said.

Lin, who learned the nuances of the business and management from his father, witnessed the company's first kitchen knife being produced. After graduating from university, he inherited the business and engaged in the production of stainless steel cutting tools and tableware.

Lin said he will further promote and develop the company despite fierce competition.

To this end, the company has imported automatic and semi-automatic production equipment from Taiwan and Japan to ensure quality and expand production.

Lin was elected president of the association of Taiwan investment enterprises in Changtai district in September 2022.

The association helps investors from the island province understand the mainland's policy guidelines, changes in its economic policies and grasp future development trends, he said.

Yang Jie contributed to this story.