This file photo taken on Sept. 10, 2024 shows the dust-free workshop of Taihu Jinzhang Technology Co., Ltd. in Taihu County, east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua)

HEFEI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- With every swipe of your smartphone screen, there's a good chance you're touching a product from a small, once-obscure county in east China, a place that has quietly become the global capital of smartphone screen protectors.

Taihu County in Anhui Province, once known for its rice paddies and freshwater fish, now produces six out of every ten screen protectors sold across China. From Brazil to Nigeria, its functional films and optical adhesives have become an essential yet often unseen link in the global electronics supply chain.

This remarkable journey -- from an agricultural backwater to a thriving hub of functional film manufacturing -- did not happen by chance. It is the result of strategic vision, relentless effort and the ability to seize opportunity.

Functional films -- thin materials with optical, electrical or protective properties -- are widely used in displays, telecommunications, vehicles and medical materials. Yet just over a decade ago, Taihu was still a predominantly farming region, with little connection to high-tech industry. Most young people left to find work elsewhere, while local factories focused on low-value products like boilers and plywood.

What Taihu did have was location. Situated at the juncture of Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces, it was within reach of three provincial capitals. That geographic advantage eventually planted the seed for its future industrial takeoff.

A tipping point came in 2009 when Taihu JinZhang Technology Co., Ltd., then a producer of basic materials like insulation tape, was looking to relocate from Shanghai.

"We had been considering other locations, but the Taihu government invited us with such warmth and sincerity that we got really impressed," recalled Wu Chuanyao, assistant general manager of Jinzhang Technology. Despite the county's lack of abundant resources at the time, the company decided to move.

Where there is a will, there is a way. "Everything depends on human effort," Wu said. "They gave us a sense that they were truly willing to make that effort."

This small county, however, faces a challenge common to many county-level economies in China, which is attracting and retaining talent. According to Shi Chanjuan, director of the Taihu Economic Development Zone, the county government helps businesses with their recruitment initiatives and with strong policy incentives, Taihu has attracted and cultivated over 178,000 professionals, a significant number for a county with a permanent population of just 419,000.

From its early days producing basic protective films, Jinzhang Technology has grown into an industry leader, commanding over 60 percent market share in certain niche segments. Its product portfolio has expanded from small screens to large displays, including functional films for smartphone display protection, outer-layer films for new display screens, key optical films within displays, and self-developed anti-blue light optical functional film materials.

Perhaps more importantly, its success has attracted others. Today, 103 companies in the functional film supply chain operate in Taihu, including 40 industrial firms with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.81 million U.S. dollars). In the first half of this year, the sector's output value grew 15.6 percent year on year, outpacing the county's overall growth rate by 3 percentage points.

Over the years, Taihu has evolved from an obscure county into a nationally recognized industry cluster. Its rise highlights an important shift in China's economic geography: emerging industries are no longer the exclusive domain of major cities or their well-connected suburbs. With the right conditions and commitment, even a remote county can develop specialized expertise and compete globally.

Fang Chengying, chairman of Anhui Hoivway Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., a high-tech enterprise specializing in the R&D, packaging and testing of semiconductor power devices and integrated circuits, highlighted the benefits of Taihu's complete local supply chain of the functional film industry that helps the company save 5 to 7 percent in costs.

At Anhui Jutai Display Photoelectric Co., Ltd., another Taihu-based company, new production lines roll out more than 900,000 tempered glass screen protectors daily, with capacity expected to reach 1.1 million.

"Globally, at least about 90 percent of tempered glass screen protectors come from the Chinese market, and we sell roughly 300 million pieces a year," said Wu Pengcheng, who is in charge of the company. Over 95 percent of the company's products are exported to markets such as India, Brazil, Dubai and Southeast Asia.

"This is an industry with extremely high requirements for industrial infrastructure," he added. "A complete industrial system is exactly where China's strength lies."

As screens become ubiquitous in daily life, demand for functional films continues to grow. The rise of China's new energy vehicle and next-generation display industries is creating even more application scenarios. Nearby cities like Hefei -- home to an emerging integrated circuit, display and vehicle industry chain -- and Bengbu, a pioneer in ultra-thin flexible glass, are forming a regional innovation belt that complements Taihu's core products.

"China's emerging sectors, like new displays and new energy vehicles, have been making rapid strides, achieving leapfrog growth. Through innovation and relentless iteration, we're now competing head-to-head in global markets," said Jinzhang Technology's Wu Chuanyao. ■