Trainees learn baking skills at a pastry training school in Yingtan, east China's Jiangxi Province. (Photo: Yan Mijin)

The Chinese-style bakery industry is a signature sector in Yingtan, east China's Jiangxi Province. More than 100,000 Yingtan natives work in the sector across the country, operating 30,000 stores with a combined annual output value of more than 40 billion yuan (about $5.9 billion).

"Back then, I carried boxes of Chinese walnut cookies to the market myself. On a good day, I could sell up to 250 kilograms. Now, my company produces 10,000 kilograms of egg rolls every day," said Xu Chuchang, who spent years building a pastry business outside his hometown before returning to Yingtan to start his own company.

Since the early 1990s, thousands of Yingtan residents have traveled across China to work in the bakery industry. In recent years, Yingtan has been nurturing its local bakery sector, attracting back talent and businesses that once thrived elsewhere.

Around 2016, Xinjiang New District in Yingtan, home to many Yingtan natives in the bakery trade, began actively fostering a local bakery industry. The district encouraged entrepreneurs to return home and start businesses, while promoting partnerships between start-ups and well-known Yingtan bakery companies operating elsewhere.

Since 2018, Yingtan has hosted six editions of the Chinese Pastry Expo, bringing together bakeries founded by Yingtan natives and inviting top bakery brands from across China. The event has strengthened cooperation, attracted investment, and boosted local business development. Exhibitor numbers have grown from 150 at the first expo to over 600 in 2026, while transaction value rose from under 200 million yuan to more than 1 billion yuan.

Through the expo, more than 20 bakery companies have set up operations in Yingtan, helping drive the city's total bakery industry output to 8 billion yuan.

Today, around 80 percent of Yingtan's bakeries maintain partnerships with successful Yingtan companies operating outside the city. Yingtan has also invited leading bakery firms to encourage suppliers and other businesses along the value chain to relocate locally. This approach has brought over 20 non-Yingtan bakery companies to the city.

Photo shows new-style pastries from more than 100 companies on display at the 2026 Chinese Pastry Expo in Yingtan, east China's Jiangxi Province. (Photo: Xu Zhiping)

To address high operating costs, Yingtan launched a baking raw materials procurement platform, which centralizes and streamlines ingredient purchasing for small and medium-sized bakeries and their retail outlets. The platform has served more than 400 companies and over 2,000 stores, helping save costs totaling over 10 million yuan.

Currently, Yingtan has attracted over 60 outstanding bakery companies founded by returning entrepreneurs. The city now hosts several distinctive regional brands and has built a relatively complete bakery ecosystem.

Yingtan has also channeled its bakery heritage into cultural tourism.

At Zhoutang Bakery Town in Xinjiang New District, parents and children are learning to make cakes on the lawn. In recent years, Zhoutang Bakery Town has developed into a cultural tourism hub, integrating baking experiences, science education, research and training, dining, and accommodations. In 2025, it welcomed more than 800,000 tourist visits.