Before Zhang Fan goes to work every morning, the last step in her makeup routine is to put on false eyelashes. "The brown ones are charming. They look like drooping sunflowers," she says.

For many women like Zhang, false eyelashes are a daily necessity. However, few know that the lashes are made in Pingdu, a county-level city in Shandong province.

Known as China's "capital of false eyelashes", the town of Dazeshan is home to 3,895 factories producing about 70 percent of the false eyelashes in the world in more than 3,000 different styles and categories. Strolling the streets one finds signs emblazoned with the word "eyelashes" everywhere.

According to Han Songming, executive chairman of the cosmetics and eyelash association of Pingdu, the history of false eyelashes stretches back to 2000 BC, and there are references to their use in ancient Egyptian and Roman literature. In the 1930s, false eyelashes were adopted by Hollywood actresses and became popular all over the world.

Development of Pingdu's false eyelash industry began in the 1970s, when business people from the Republic of Korea came to Shandong to open factories in Qingdao city. A villager from Dazeshan who worked in one of the factories brought the skill back to his hometown.

More people soon began to make the lashes. As the sector grew, local businesses sent their workers to Europe, the United States, Japan and the ROK to master advanced technology, which led to a marked increase in the quality of the false eyelashes Pingdu produced.

"Compared with the workshops where my father used to work, the sector is now more standardized, mechanized and digitized," says Wang Haibo, general manager of the Qingdao Boxiu False Eyelash Crafts company, and who is one of the city's second generation of eyelash makers.

Although small in size, false eyelashes are not easy to make, and require nine workers to complete seven steps.

With the increase of labor costs, Pingdu is facing increasingly fierce competition both domestically and internationally.

"We can only keep competitive through innovation," Wang says.

After several attempts, his research team discovered that artificial mink was an ideal material for making false eyelashes, as it is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly compared to real mink. "The new products have been welcomed by the European and American markets," he says. "On average, we turn out a new product every two or three months now."

In addition, Pingdu has an industrial park with a complete eyelash production chain, which helps lower costs. The park partners with universities to keep abreast of any advances in technology and equipment.

"With the new equipment, efficiency has increased more than five times," says Pan Xinyu, the operations manager of the Qingdao beauty online new economy industrial park.

The false eyelash industry has generated thousands of job opportunities in Pingdu for local residents, especially women. Currently, more than 50,000 people out of a population of 1.37 million are involved in the sector.

As living standards improve in China, health and beauty are being given greater prominence, and the false eyelash market continues to be promising. According to a white paper on the industry released in October 2023, nail and eyelash salons grew by 33.7 percent in 2022.

Wang is optimistic about the development of the domestic market. "There are a huge number of consumers and strong purchasing power, and people are paying more attention to the quality of life and beauty," he says. "There is great potential to tap for the false eyelash industry."