Zhejiang in FIFA World Cup

Nearly 500 million people from 215 countries and regions who watched football games either on television or in the stadiums could testify that no Chinese footballers stepped on the competing ground and played any game in South African in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. But that does not mean China did not play a part in the world’s football extravaganza held in South Africa in the summer of 2010.

People in Zhejiang are proud of their alternative appearance at the world cup. Those who can say “been there and seen that” include many Zhejiang manufacturers. These manufacturers include producers of seats， scarves， wigs and air-conditioners and vuvuzelas.

Dafeng Sports Devices Co Ltd made and installed 50，000 seats for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. The 2010 World Cup was not the first time that the sports equipment maker in Yuyao， Zhejiang produced for world sports galas. In 2004， the company made and supplied seats for sports venues of the Athens Olympics. Shortly after the 2004 Games in Greece， the organizers of the 2010 South Africa World Cup invited Dafeng to bid for a contract of supplying seats for the world cup sports venues. Competitors included manufacturers in Spain， America and Italy. Dafeng laughed last and landed a contract of more than 2.5 million US dollars. They manufactured seats not only for the big stadium but also for the press center and some training venues. At the end of 2008， Dafeng sent a 15-member team to South Africa to install all the seats and it took the team five months to do the job.

Hangzhou Moshanghua Computer Knitting Company produced scarves for the World Cup teams. Orders flooded in February， 2010. It was shortly after the Spring Festival. Many companies had difficulty finding adequate numbers of employees to start normal operations whereas Moshanghua was already running in full capacity. For months， the company produced about 4，000 scarves a day. It produced scarves for all the 32 participating nations. But the biggest orders were for Australia， England and South Africa.

Yiwu Tiancheng Crafts Company produced tens of thousands of wigs for the World Cup. The workers were amazed by the exaggerated colors of these wigs. And they knew the color yellow for Brazil and orange for the Netherlands. They certainly recognized their products when they watched these teams’ games.

The Aux air-conditioner manufacturer in Ningbo， a port city of Zhejiang Province， delivered central air-conditioning systems for the World Cup sports venues. The orders added up to 4 million US dollars.

These companies were not the only manufacturers for the World Cup 2010. Yiwu in central Zhejiang， generally known as the world supermarket， played a major part in providing the world cup souvenirs. A sports product wholesaler said that orders flooded in from January on and peaked in May. Most of these buyers were from overseas. Their orders were usually in the unit of 10，000. He delivered about 20，000 to 30，000 a month and before the world cup kicked off， he had delivered more than 100，000， ten times than ordinary times. And this sports product wholesaler was just a midsize wholesaler at the market.

Another wholesaler at Yiwu got orders to make 30，000 team jerseys of Brazil， Argentina and other South American countries. It was the first time that the wholesaler got such a big order from South America.

These wholesalers believed that these orders came to them because China was able to produce high-quality football-related products at very competitive prices. Some said that factories had run in full capacity. Some buyers wanted the goods so urgently that they asked their goods to be airlifted to South Africa.

Probably the most popular “Made-in-Zhejiang” football-related product was the vuvuzela. The plastic trumpet makes deafening noise and is an integral part of football in South Africa. The horn was originally used in South Africa to summon distant villagers to communal gatherings or drive baboons away. The world came to know this powerful trumpet through this world cup. However， most of the vuvuzelas used at the world cup were not made in South Africa， the manufacturing powerhouse of the African continent. Most of them were made in Zhejiang Province， China.

Wu Yijun， who runs a plastic factory in Ninghai， Zhejiang， first designed and made his two-foot plastic horn in 2001. His vuvuzela， however， found no market at that time. He put his samples away in the warehouse. And later he displayed his trumpets at Alibaba， China’s largest internet business website headquartered in Hangzhou， hoping against hope that some buyers might look for his trumpet one day. In June 2009， an unexpected African businessman visited his factory. Wu got an order of 1，000 vuvuzelas. Three weeks after the trumpets were shipped， orders came in rapid succession for increasing quantities. This was as unexpected as the first African visitor. By January 2010， his small factory had to run overtime and finally he had to turn down an order for 1.5 million vuvuzelas. Altogether， he shipped one million vuvuzelas to Africa and about 200，000 for Chinese market. Understanding the deafening noise might be a public nuisance in some countries， Wu Yijun modified his product in May， 2010. He believed he would have more orders for other sports games. He has received orders for endorsed supporters of the Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou. Wu is planning to sell his modified vuvuzelas to America. He revealed that some American importers had contacted him.

But Wu Yijun did not make a fortune out of the 1.2 million trumpets. He is just a manufacturer at the low end of a long business chain and he had never thought of registering a trademark for the product. At first he thought the product had no market and then orders suddenly hit him fast and hard. Now he has time to consider the trademark issue. He is ready to get a trademark for his vuvuzelas. □