Seated on the northern bank of the Ou River, within the territory of Yongjia County in Wenzhou, Qiaoxia is a small town that enjoyed a reputation for its scenic beauty throughout its history. For outsiders, the town is a nice destination for sightseeing and leisure enjoyments while traveling in Wenzhou, Insiders, however, come here for the town’s vibrant toy industry.

My visit to the town to attend a toy expo and a cultural forum was an eye-opening experience, to say the least. The small town is the proud supplier of about 60% of China’s educational toys, half of which exported to European and American markets. It is no exaggeration to say the toy manufacturers based here are important contributors to the national education cause. It can be said that the town’s toy innovators seem to know “how to play” better than their counterparts at home and abroad.

The days when children from rural areas had to make do with iron hoops for fun have long gone. In today’s world, toys are designed not just for children to kill time, but are developed for them to explore through challenging and fun activities, as is fully shown by what I saw in the town’s toy exhibition gallery. Visitors can learn about the latest trends of learning toys by taking a closer look at the booths displaying all kinds of models designed to not only entertain but also educate children. Whether it is a Rubik’s cube or a wooden horse, the designer’s effort in developing children’s interest towards science, social studies, and various aspects of learning is easy to see.

One of the vendors I talked to was a young man majoring in education in his postgraduate years. He is just one of the town’s many young, ambitious toy designers/manufacturers who know everything about how to design and manufacture quality learning toys with very fine details.

The visit to Qiaoxia also made my dream of admiring the mountain and river landscapes of Yongjia come true. Before I set my foot in this fairyland, I heard a lot about the gorgeous views of the Nanxi River and the area’s enchanting social habits conserved from ancient times. My curiosity was also aroused by a book written by a friend of mine. When we met at a reading party in Wuhan, she couldn’t help reminiscing about the refreshing scenic beauty of her hometown in Yongjia.

The ethereal scenery of Yongjia once inspired Xie Lingyun (385-433), a famous traveler and poet in the Northern and Southern Dynasties of China, so much so that he extolled the scenic charm of Yongjia in a series of poems that brought himself to the zenith of a new poem genre called by later generations as "nature poems".

Despite the town's vibrant atmosphere of toy manufacturing, business visitors here would feel hard not to spare some time to unwind in one of the town's village houses and soak in the area's soothing views of bamboo forests and babbling streams.

In this lovely town rooted in unique historical identity and immersed in breathtaking landscapes, talented, brave and dedicated individuals who call Qiaoxia their home are giving newcomers the deepest impression and fleshing out the image of the town’s true nature. It is as if the soul-healing scenery of Yongjia has fostered the best qualities of Chinese culture and humanity that would bear fruit over another millennium to the lasting benefit of the region.