Qingdao – A Wig Producing City – Part 1

Where are wigs made?

Wigs are produced in many countries around the world including China, Indonesia, Europe and India. In Australia there are only few wig makers that you can have a wig customised for you personally. However, these are a lot more costly than the ready made wigs that come out of China due to the cost of wages.

I was lucky to have a chance to visit a city in China Qingdao and visit a Wig factory.  You hear of many horror stories of children working in factories, poor conditions and many other problems which I can say I never saw in Qingdao.  The factories that we visited were clean, organised and had only adults working in very good conditions.  China is definitely different to Australia and the high standards we have in our work place are not seen in China but the factories were very reasonable.

I wanted to share a little of my fond memories of Qingdao that we visited and the many things we learnt about the process of making wigs.

Firstly, a little about Qingdao.  It is a city in the Eastern Shandong Province on the east coast of China with a population of over 8.7 million people.  It is a major seaport, naval base and Industrial centre.  It has the longest sea bridge in the world – Jiaozhou Bay Bridge – that is 26.71 km long over water. Qingdao is well known for hosting the sailing events for the Beijing Olympic Games.  It is a very pretty seaside city.

Qingdao is known for its beer.  Tsingtao Brewery was founded by the Germans and is the largest export of beer from China.  Tourists visit the Brewery everyday and there is an International Beer festival held yearly in Qingdao. The beer was much nicer than the wine as we are very spoilt in Australia with the best wines in the world.

I just loved the people and the hospitality we received.  Nothing was ever too much trouble.  The food ranged from very authentic Chinese to many American style cafes/restaurants, to Italian, Japanese and Korean cusine.  The authentic Chinese food was absolutely divine.  The most memorable meal would have been at a little town called Jimo.  We went to a restaurant that looked very average but we were in for a treat.  There was no menu but we were taken into the larder of fresh food lined up in huge stainless steel bowls all lined up with fresh produce.  And here we were asked what we wanted to order.  Once we sorted this out we were taken to a separate dining room.  The whole restaurant was made of many rooms.  All the food is prepared freshly as you order and it was delicious.

I can honestly say the best dumplings I have ever eaten and probably will ever have were in Qingdao.  We found this little courtyard at the end of an alley that I would never have been brave enough to have a look but the place was just gorgeous.  There was a little stage with operatic singers putting on a show.  Everything from the entertainment to the waiters and chefs were very authentic.  The pourer of the tea was a talent if its own.

In this most gorgeous place there are so many talented people who start from a row of hair and then create the most beautiful wigs.

In my next post I will tell you more about Qingdao and where the wigs are made.