The well-preserved historical headquarters of Huqing Yutang. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

East China's Zhejiang province is home to a total of 491 government-recognized time-honored brands of consumer goods, many of which are keeping up with the times and thriving.

These days, it is easy to spot female tourists wearing hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, and holding a Wangxingji Fan, a traditional brand of fan founded in Hangzhou in 1875, alongside Hangzhou's iconic West Lake. In the era of air-conditioning, traditional folding fans have long lost their utility. However, the Wangxingji Fan has benefited from the hanfu craze that started in China in the early 2000s and has gradually become popular among younger generations. To reach out to a larger group of young consumers, Wangxingji Fan Co has even printed images from popular animated films on its fans.

Huqing Yutang, a manufacturer of traditional Chinese medicine founded in Hangzhou in 1874, has developed various health-enhancing herbal teabags that cater to the younger generation's pursuit of convenience and health in their stressful lives. The company is also waging an all-out online marketing campaign, running online stores on every single well-known e-commerce platform. Online sales currently account for over 40 percent of the company's turnover.

A decade ago, most Chinese households had only one pair of scissors and thought little of having another. Zhang Xiaoquan Scissors, another Hangzhou-based time-honored brand, thought up the marketing slogan "every household should have at least two pairs of scissors" and advocated for putting "one pair in the living room and one pair in the kitchen for sanitation reasons". The company's kitchen scissors are benefiting from Chinese people's growing demand for a higher quality of life and have proven successful. The company's sales revenue has grown by 20 percent annually over the past two years.

A robot operates at the production center of Zhang Xiaoquan Scissors Co. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]