Golf, a stylish and elegant sport popular across Europe and the United States, also commands a vast market within China. Which county seat is building a complete golf equipment industrial chain and increasingly taking on orders for golf clubs destined for Western markets?

Amid the global wave of new energy vehicle transformation, power batteries that can withstand collisions and nail penetration tests without catching fire, emitting smoke, or exploding were once an insurmountable safety threshold for the industry. Where is the only domestic enterprise capable of mass-supplying solid-state electrolyte separators that fundamentally eliminate fire risks?

Outsiders might find it hard to believe that the answers to both questions point to Ningyuan County in Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, a county town in southern Hunan.

Thanks to the deepening implementation of its "one leading, one distinctive" industrial system, Ningyuan County is continuously strengthening its leading new energy and new materials (lithium battery) sector and its distinctive light industry and textiles (sports equipment) sector, driving the clustered development of these primary and specialty industries.

Ningyuan County is also a land steeped in revolutionary heritage. More than 90 years ago, from August to November 1934, the Red Sixth Army Corps, the vanguard of the Red Army's Long March, and the main forces of the Central Red Army passed through Ningyuan County successively over approximately 11 days, traversing nearly 20 townships and nearly 300 villages, leaving behind multiple battle sites, Red Army Long March slogan walls, and revolutionary memorial sites.

Recently, reporters from China Business Journal retraced the Long March route and arrived in Ningyuan County for an in-depth investigation of how local specialty industries are extending, supplementing, and strengthening their chains, how they are advancing toward greater strength and higher ground, and how they are securing a place in national and even global industrial chains. Ningyuan County's rise as a lithium battery highland leveraging its resource advantages, and its transformation from traditional shoe manufacturing to technology-driven golf club production, serve as exemplary cases of industrial breakthrough, shining even brighter under the guidance of the Long March spirit.

A Single Separator Layer Catches the New Energy Wave

Walking into Hunan Lidu New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hunan Lidu") located in the Fuyuan Industrial Park of Ningyuan High-tech Zone, modern factory buildings stand in neat rows, with solid-state electrolyte separator production lines and lithium-sodium battery production lines running at high speed, forming part of the "heart" of new energy vehicle power batteries.

According to reports, Hunan Lidu is the main engine of Ningyuan County's leading new energy and new materials (lithium battery) industry and a major project signed and introduced by Ningyuan High-tech Zone in 2023. The project covers an area of 73 mu (approximately 12 acres) with a planned total investment of approximately 2 billion yuan. Once fully completed and operational, it will achieve an annual production capacity of 600 million square meters of separators and 10,000 tons of cathode materials, with an annual output value of 2.8 billion yuan.

"Currently, the company has put into production 12 solid-state electrolyte separator production lines and 4 lithium-sodium battery production lines. In 2025, it achieved an output value of 160 million yuan and created employment for more than 120 people," a responsible person from Hunan Lidu told reporters. The company is currently the only high-tech enterprise in China capable of mass-producing high-temperature-resistant separators (up to 200 degrees Celsius). Its separator technology has passed certification by a number of top domestic battery companies and is being supplied in bulk. Its cooperative clients include well-known enterprises such as CATL, Ganfeng Lithium, Sunwoda, and Farasis Energy.

On May 31 of this year, Hunan Lidu announced that its solid-state electrolyte separator with a monthly output of 23 million square meters had achieved large-scale mass production, making it the only enterprise in China capable of supplying this product in bulk, directly meeting the most stringent nail penetration test challenges in the new national standards for lithium and sodium batteries.

Relevant materials show that the core of the solid-state electrolyte separator lies in replacing liquid electrolytes with non-flammable solid materials, fundamentally eliminating the risk of power battery fires. Regarding the technology behind this, Su Qitao, Chairman of Hunan Lidu, stated: "The solid-state electrolyte coated separator can effectively solve the nail penetration fire and explosion problems under the new national standards for lithium and sodium batteries. It looks like just a layer of film, but it actually contains many pores. These pores shrink during discharge and expand during charging."

According to Su Qitao, the company's factory area covers approximately 60,000 square meters and has an annual separator production capacity of 800 million square meters. "Currently, the company's monthly shipment volume has reached 23 million square meters, and the output value is expected to reach at least 650 million yuan in 2026. This mass production scale is in a leading position domestically."

The rapid development of Hunan Lidu is just a microcosm of the increasingly mature lithium battery industry cluster in Ningyuan County. According to reports, the locality has now gathered lithium battery and supporting enterprises including Hunan Lidu, Juli New Energy, Walton New Energy, Wanfu Technology, Ningna Technology, Qili Technology, and Dapeng Laser, forming a complete chain from "cathode and anode materials—cell manufacturing—separators—electrolytes—intelligent equipment—end applications."

Statistics show that in 2025, Ningyuan County's lithium battery industry cluster gathered more than 80 enterprises with a total output value of 7.85 billion yuan, possessing an annual production capacity of 500 million lithium batteries and 1 billion square meters of separators. Multiple upstream and downstream enterprises in battery manufacturing have formed collaborative supporting relationships, building an industrial ecosystem characterized by "leading enterprise guidance and SME collaboration."

A Single Golf Club "Swings Out" an Internationalized Industry

While the leading new energy and new materials (lithium battery) industry takes the lead, the development of Ningyuan County's distinctive light industry and textiles (sports equipment) sector is equally noteworthy.

Ningyuan County is a traditional shoe manufacturing hub. Research data from the Ningyuan County CPPCC shows that as of the end of March this year, the county had more than 130 shoe manufacturing enterprises, of which 52 are in Ningyuan High-tech Zone, including 26 above-scale enterprises and 16 footwear companies, with an annual production capacity of 25 million pairs of finished shoes. In 2025, the annual output value of Ningyuan County's shoe manufacturing industry exceeded 2 billion yuan.

In the intelligent production workshop of Yongzhou Huisheng Footwear Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huisheng Footwear"), there is no "human wave tactic" typical of traditional manufacturing. Instead, visitors are greeted with a sense of digital technology. In 2025, Huisheng Footwear was included in the national-level 5G factory list, becoming a typical example of Ningyuan's traditional industries leapfrogging from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing."

While shoe manufacturers are transitioning toward "intelligent manufacturing," Ningyuan County is also writing a new story of industrial transformation from "making shoes" to "making clubs." In the Gaoxin Sports Equipment Industrial Park located in the Western Industrial Park of Ningyuan High-tech Zone, 10 multi-story factory buildings and 1 comprehensive office building have risen from the ground, becoming the core engine driving the development of Ningyuan County's complete golf equipment industrial chain.

According to reports, the industrial park was jointly developed by the Ningyuan County People's Government and Hunan Gaoxin Holding Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gaoxin Holdings"). The first phase covers 110 mu (approximately 18 acres) with a total construction area of approximately 100,000 square meters. It was put into production in April 2024. It is an export-oriented, modern and distinctive golf full-industry-chain park that combines open innovation, industrial synergy, and green low-carbon development, committed to building a widely recognized and influential "Ningyuan Golf" brand.

A responsible person from Ningyuan County told reporters that the Gaoxin Sports Equipment Industrial Park has introduced 14 enterprises including Hunan Lianxin Sports Goods, Yongzhou Xinduan Precision Technology, and Hunan Jialei Sports Goods, basically forming a complete golf equipment industry chain integrating molds, club heads, shafts, grips, and bags. "In 2025, the golf industry chain achieved a total output value of 200 million yuan and created employment for more than 700 people."

"After the project is fully completed, enterprises in the park will provide nearly 5,000 jobs, with total output value expected to exceed 5 billion yuan and annual tax revenue reaching 500 million yuan," said a responsible person from the Party Working Committee and Management Committee of Ningyuan High-tech Zone. Currently, enterprises in the park cover the production of all golf product categories, forming a full-industry-chain model of specialized division of labor, industrialized collaboration, and clustered development.

"We are now using this full-industry-chain model mainly to build the largest and internationally influential world-class golf equipment industrial base in the country," said Tan Zhihong, General Manager of Gaoxin Holdings.

Securing a Place in the Global Industrial Chain

From "individual champions" to "cluster collaboration," how has Ningyuan County—an inland small town in southern Hunan—secured a place in the global industrial chain amid the era of restructuring and fierce competition?

According to reports, in recent years, Ningyuan County has vigorously implemented the "163" project, built the "Shunxinban" government service brand, provided dedicated "assist-and-proxy" services, and achieved "zero errands" for enterprises, becoming a driving force for the local area to promote the iterative upgrading of traditional industries toward "intelligence" and "high-end" and accelerate the construction of a distinctive industrial system.

Innovation-driven empowerment, precision investment attraction and talent recruitment, and business environment optimization are the "three magic weapons" for Ningyuan County to build a collaborative development pattern of industrial chains and clusters. A responsible person from Ningyuan High-tech Zone told reporters that in recent years, Ningyuan High-tech Zone has closely focused on the "one leading, one distinctive" industries to plan projects, attract investment, and optimize services, introducing three "parks within parks"—the Golf Sports Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park, the Lithium Battery New Materials Industrial Park, and the Shunde Cultural Crafts Industrial Park—creating a vivid situation of gradient development of three major industrial clusters: new energy and new materials, light industry intelligent manufacturing, and cultural creativity.

Currently, Ningyuan County's lithium battery industry has built an industrial chain integrating cathode and anode materials, separators, and electrolytes, and has ranked among Hunan Province's "one core, one pole, three auxiliaries" spatial layout. In 2025, Ningyuan County successfully established a city-wide lithium battery industry alliance, and its small battery industry cluster ranked among Hunan Province's small and medium-sized enterprise distinctive industry clusters.

"We will continue to focus on lithium battery manufacturing, accelerate the improvement of park supporting facilities, deepen industry-university-research collaborative innovation, promote the growth and strengthening of the lithium battery industry alliance, and strive to build a lithium battery industry highland with influence across the province and even the entire country," said Liu Zhiming, Member of the Party Working Committee and Deputy Director of the Management Committee of Ningyuan High-tech Industrial Development Zone.

"In 2026, Ningyuan County will persist in strengthening chains and clustering industries, and expand the industrial economy with greater efforts. We will vigorously implement the action of cultivating new and strengthening existing industries, adhere to the full-industry-chain development approach, push distinctive advantageous industries toward greater strength, and unswervingly expand and strengthen the primary and specialty industries," stated Ningyuan County's 2026 Government Work Report.

Specific pathways include: continuously strengthening the leading new energy and new materials (lithium battery) industry, enhancing regional industrial collaboration, and consolidating Yongzhou's position as the chain leader in the city's lithium battery industry chain. Continuously strengthening the distinctive light industry and textiles (sports equipment) industry, supporting the extension, supplementation, and strengthening of the golf sports equipment industry chain, and cultivating related sports equipment industries.

According to reports, facing the "15th Five-Year Plan," Ningyuan County will rely on its existing industrial foundation and resource endowments to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with Ningyuan characteristics and focus on building an advanced manufacturing base. While developing and strengthening the new energy and new materials (lithium battery) industry cluster, it will also expand and strengthen the distinctive light industry and textiles (sports equipment) industry, striving to create a provincial-level industrial cluster.