China's Second-generation Factory Owners Go Digital To Combat Challenges

Second-generation Chinese factory owners like Robyn Qiu are turning to social media to promote their firms and goods to would-be customers (Credit: AFP)

Dressed in a pristine white knit top, Robyn Qiu cut an incongruous figure in her parents' dusty, hangar-like metal hardware factory in eastern China as she gestured excitedly while an assistant filmed her on a smartphone.

The 29-year-old is one of many second-generation factory owners fighting to elevate the country's manufacturing sector, pitting digital native skillsets against the rising costs and geopolitical tensions pushing clients abroad.