Recently, enterprises based in Longhua District have frequently made appearances in major state-level media outlets. On the evening of December 22, Miracles, a premium short drama co-created by China Media Group (CMG) and Shenzhen City, premiered at the prime time slot of 8 p.m. on CCTV-1. In the episode The Impossible Order of this drama, the solar energy factory of Shenzhen Disheng Energy Co., Ltd. in Longhua District is featured prominently. On December 23, the client platform of People’s Daily published an article entitled Chinese Electronic Products Win Favor of European Consumers – “The Most Important Thing for Cultivating the Market is to Take Patient and Steady Steps”, which cited Shenzhen Leqi Innovation Co., Ltd. in Longhua District and its subsidiary imaging accessory brand SmallRig as typical examples of niche Chinese brands whose products have gained great popularity overseas.
Tiny Solar Panels Fuel a Booming Business
Miracles is the first original premium short drama produced by CMG, consisting of 15 episodes with a total of 24 segments each around 20 minutes long. It allows audiences to quickly experience vivid stories of Shenzhen through these compact episodes. Many of the drama’s storylines were filmed on location in Shenzhen, and for the episode The Impossible Order, the major filming site for the acclaimed actor Jin Shijia is the solar energy factory of Disheng Energy located in Guanlan Subdistrict, Longhua District.
According to official synopses, The Impossible Order depicts a collective challenge against the “impossible”, and is also an ode to love and dreams. Disheng Energy’s solar factory, where the drama was shot, is situated in the Guanlan Demonstration Industrial Park, covering a floor area of over 26,000 square meters. The factory mainly manufactures custom-spec solar panels with power ranging from 30mW to 600W for non-standard electronic applications, which are widely used in transportation and marine navigation, agriculture and aerospace, outdoor lighting, military applications, public facilities, water conservancy monitoring and other fields.
Disheng Energy has introduced advanced equipment from many countries around the world and recruited top technical experts in the solar panel industry. It masters cutting-edge SMT packaging and production technologies for solar cells both at home and abroad, capable of producing micro solar panels as small as a postage stamp with a conversion efficiency of up to 22% to 25%. The company has obtained more than 100 patents and certification certificates related to solar panels. Its solar panels sell well in the domestic market and are exported to Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Africa and other regions, making it one of the representatives of high-end manufacturing in Shenzhen.
Niche Products Break into the Global Market
Leqi Innovation, another outstanding enterprise in Longhua District, recently caught the attention of the People’s Daily client platform. As mentioned in the article, Leqi Innovation has secured a solid market share with a range of products that are highly adaptable to diverse imaging scenarios. Europe accounts for more than 30% of SmallRig’s global revenue, with sales growth hitting 22% from 2023 to 2024. SmallRig’s products are available in over 300 offline photography equipment stores and supermarkets across more than 30 European countries, covering tripods, selfie sticks, batteries, lighting equipment, microphones and other product categories.
A renowned enterprise rooted in Longhua, Leqi Innovation made a cross-industry transition to the imaging accessory sector in 2010. Starting with a single category of imaging support products, it has gradually built a comprehensive product ecosystem characterized by full-scenario applicability, universal compatibility and agile manufacturing. Today, the company provides a full range of photography and videography auxiliary equipment and solutions for creators worldwide, including camera imaging ecosystem series, mobile phone imaging ecosystem series, imaging lighting, power supplies and microphones. Its products have reached more than 160 countries and regions, with over 500 new product iterations launched each year.
“Share your ideas with us, and we will work out the solutions together!” Unlike the closed-door R&D model adopted by traditional manufacturing enterprises, Leqi Innovation has built an open innovation ecosystem centered on co-creation since its inception. It pioneered the world’s first user-manufacturer co-creation product development model, forming a positive cycle where “products originate from users and serve users in return”. To attract more professionals to offer expert insights, Leqi Innovation prints the names of core co-creating users on its products; if the product sales meet the set targets, the company will share profits with these users in proportion. In addition, Leqi Innovation launched the DreamRig free customization program, which has so far partnered with more than 1,300 photographers to create over 2,700 customized products. Each product precisely addresses the user needs of specific scenarios, becoming an indispensable gear for imaging creators around the globe.
Notably, Leqi Innovation’s agile manufacturing capability sets an industry benchmark. Supported by the complete upstream and downstream supporting system in Longhua District and the full-chain supply chain guarantee provided by the Greater Bay Area’s “1-hour manufacturing circle”, the company can develop 400 to 500 new products a year — an average of 1.6 new products per day. The whole process from project initiation to finished product warehousing can be completed in as little as 21 days. Moreover, all procedures from raw material procurement, component processing to finished product assembly can be efficiently carried out within the region, significantly shortening the R&D and iteration cycle.
Having been rooted in Longhua for 15 years, Leqi Innovation has transformed itself from a small cross-industry startup into a pioneer of the global imaging scenario revolution. Its “small accessories” such as tripods and camera cages (protective and expandable camera accessories) are not only used for daily vlogging and live streaming, but also adopted in the production of Hollywood blockbuster films. The SmallRig Public Welfare Imaging Award initiated by the company has attracted creators from 120 countries, conveying social goodwill through the power of visual storytelling.
