Arriving in Yunhe, a small county in Lishi city, Zhejiang province, you can’t help but wonder if you’ve just stepped into a dream-like painting, with the Oujiang River winding through its misty mountains, hills and valleys.
But there is more than natural beauty in Yunhe. It is also a treasure trove of wooden toys. Wooden toy-themed cultural and amusement parks line the main roads, shops and stores selling wooden toys are everywhere, children play with locally made toys and board games in kindergarten as part of preschool education, hotels and home stays are often featured with wooden toys, and even street lamps, bus stops and the country’s highway tollgates are built in the shape of wooden toys and castles.
“My grandfather, who was then 44 years old, went to Shanghai in 1972 in search of a market for wooden toys, and when he returned, he brought back several samples,” said He Bin, head of Zhejiang Hexin Toys and who is also 44 years old, stating the time his grandfather He Shouzhen earned Yunhe’s first export order. After a year and a half of repeated trials in his simple workshop, He Shouzhen successfully produced a batch of spinning tops, castanets and yo-yos, which were then sold through a trading company in Shanghai to Japan for a total of 4, 000 yuan ($570).
Last year, Yunhe’s wooden toys created the income of 9. 19 billion yuan, and over 31, 000 people—roughly a quarter of its population—were employed in the country’s manufacturing companies.
Known as the “Hometown of China’s Wooden Toys”, Yunhe boasts 1, 093 manufacturers, producing thousands of wooden playthings every year. In fact, 56 percent of China’s wooden toys and 40 percent of the world’s are made in Yunhe. These toys are exported to 76 countries and regions including the United States and Europe.
【小题1】What are the characteristics of Yunhe?| A．Education and wooden toys. | B．Colorful and attractive kindergartens. |
| C．Wooden gun-themed amusement parks. | D．Natural beauty as well as wooden toys. |
| A．Because his grandfather was a well-known businessman. |
| B．Because his grandfather had been to Shanghai for business and made it. |
| C．Because his grandfather simply produced some wooden castanets and yo-yos. |
| D．Because his grandfather was a success on account of making wooden toys. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Optimistic. | C．Critical. | D．Negative. |
| A．Small wooden toys realizing dreams of prosperity. |
| B．A small county importing plenty of wooden toys. |
| C．A successful craftsman making small wooden toys. |
| D．Amusement parks concentrating on wooden street lamps. |
