(ECNS) -- About 300,000 clothing merchants whose factories are based in Zhejiang Province have relocated their business from Beijing to neighboring Hebei Province, part of a broader plan for the integration of Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin Municipality, Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The garment association under the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in Beijing said some 500,000 people are expected to move to Hebei as their companies relocate.
The relocation plan aims to promote the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, to create new growth sectors and address challenging issues including population control and environmental protection.
Among the companies, more than 70 have set up new headquarters in Yongqing County of Hebei's Langfang City.
The capital city is home to around 800,000 businessmen from the coastal Zhejiang Province, a region historically known for its entrepreneurship, and 300,000 of them work in the garment industry, said Lu Jiansheng, executive vice-chairman of the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
These people mainly arrived in Beijing in the 1980s and 1990s, but the businesses face growing costs related to human resources and land, so the relocation will provide a new opportunity, added Lu.
Lunzhuo Clothing Co. Ltd. was based in Beijing's Daxing District and mainly sold clothes wholesale at the capital's most well-known clothing market Dahongmen since 1997.
Zheng Chunfa, a native of Zhejiang province and also president of Lunzhuo, said his company faced difficult conditions in Beijing, including a 27-square-meter dorm crowded with eight employees.
Now the company has moved to Langfang, where it has its own buildings and better conditions for employees.
