The Fire Is Burning "&Nbsp"; China Shoes Are Popular In Elche.

On June 10th, Elche, a small Spanish town with a population of only 230 thousand, located in the Mediterranean Sea, was once the focus of heated debate because of the vicious cases of attacks and incineration of Chinese shoe shops in 2004.

7 years later, the local court made a final decision on the case. 28 Spanish perpetrators were sentenced to 6 months to 18 months' imprisonment respectively, and the injured Chinese businessman Chen Jiusong was paid 26 thousand euros.

How did the Chinese businessmen survive and integrate in Elche after the dust settled? How do local businesses and people think about it?

Fire boom China shoe city

Elche is the third largest city in Valencia, Spain. In the second half of twentieth Century, the shoe industry successfully entered the United States.

With the development of economic globalization, developing countries, including China, have joined the world.

In 2004, the warehouse of the shoe burning case is now a new two storey building, which can not see the trace of the fire when operating the auto parts.

Liu Jiazhen, President of the former Chinese Footwear Association, recalled that in September 16th of that year, a fire burned 12 thousand pairs of shoes, but it also burned up business in the suburb of Elche.

"The reputation of shoe city is getting bigger and bigger. At the most brilliant time, many European countries are here to buy goods."

Now the shoes city of the card is everywhere.

Most shoe stores display samples in front and store goods behind.

Shoe shops usually have Spanish names, but a lot of signs will also be marked with Chinese names to make journalists feel more intimate.

According to Jin Yi, President of the shoemaker Association of Spain, most shoe stores in the shoemaker are owned by Chinese shoe merchants, with a number of hundreds, and more than 90% of them are from the Wenzhou area.

These shoe stores are imported from China, and then wholesale from here to Spain.

In June, this is the peak season for wholesale footwear, but many shoe stores in the card city have already begun to offer discounts.

In this regard, Jin Yi explained: "Spain's current economic situation is not good, the people's spending power has declined significantly.

Besides, big cities such as Madrid and Barcelona have built their own shoes wholesale bases, and many retail and chain stores do not purchase from Elche.

But even so, most Chinese shoe makers still choose to stick to it.

Give back to society and win admiration.

No matter Liu Jia Zhen and Jin Yi, or Zheng Yunxing, President of the Spanish Mediterranean peace Unification Promotion Association, they all said, "now we can not only focus on making money, but also understand local society, integrate into society, and also give back to society."

In May this year, after the earthquake in Spain, the shoe association decided to donate money for the disaster area.

When the head of the association took the donation of more than 10 thousand euros to the Red Cross of the city of La Ca, the mayor of the city of RCA came to see it in person to show appreciation to Chinese businessmen for giving back to society.

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In addition, many Chinese footwear manufacturers employ many local employees.

Liu Jiazhen's shop has a 24 year old local young man, Jose.

Jose told reporters that his job was mainly to pport goods. The unemployment rate of young people in Spain was very high, and he not only got good income, but also the boss was insured. He was very satisfied with the job.

Jose said: "many Chinese bosses are willing to hire local workers, who have no barriers or familiarity with their language."

When it comes to social integration, many Chinese businessmen say that the real integration needs to wait until the next generation.

Compared with overseas Chinese in the United States, Britain, France and other countries, the development of overseas Chinese in Spain is much shorter.

Therefore, the main body of the Chinese society in Spain is still the first generation of overseas Chinese. The difference between language culture and living habits is the biggest challenge for them to integrate into the local society.

Correspondingly, Spaniards are adapting to more and more Chinese people.

An article in the China Daily pointed out that Chinese people came and stayed, and they were very humbly associated with their neighbors.

Spaniards should pay close attention to the group around them.

Common opportunities and common competition

When talking about the competition between Chinese and western footwear industry, Raul, director of Public Relations Department of Valencia Footwear Association, pointed out in the interview that there is no real competition in Elche because of the great differences between the two sides facing the customer market.

He explained that Chinese shoes are mostly for the low-end market. In 2009, the average import price was 2.59 euros, and the price was lower. While Spanish shoes were in the middle and high-end market, the average price of each pair was nearly 17 euros.

The marketing modes of both sides are also quite different. Chinese shoe traders mainly adopt the way of customer door-to-door operation, while Spanish shoe makers are more focused on sales through salesmen, advertising companies and online shopping.

"The entry of Chinese shoes into the Spanish market is the inevitable result of economic globalization and irreversible."

Raul said that the 2004 shoe burning incident was only a case, and it was the result of the impulse of a few people.

Now, Elche's bankrupt shoemaker has entered the marketing, logistics and design industry, and there is no such phenomenon as the hatred of Chinese shoe traders.

Under the impact of the international financial crisis in Spain, many developing countries, including China, have become a promising new market for Spanish footwear industry.

According to the latest data released by the Spanish Footwear Association, the Chinese market bought 9 million euros worth of Spanish shoes in the first quarter of this year, up 114.56% from the same period last year. China has risen from the nineteenth largest exporter of Spain's footwear industry to the thirteenth largest exporter.

Because of the low labor force and high production level in China, many large Spanish shoe companies have shifted their production base to China.

Some Spanish companies also plan to pfer part of their design rights to the Chinese branch.

In an interview, reporters found that many Chinese shoe companies in Elche have already made their own brands.

Although these brands still have a long way to go to grow into famous brands, the first step has already taken place.