Most people have never heard of Lover Health Products or Senken Industrial, but the two mainland companies have cornered the market in two unlikely industries - sex and violence.
Lover is one of the world's top sex toy makers, while Senken is the mainland's biggest maker of police equipment. Their unusual businesses aside, the two share much in common: both are private firms with humble beginnings based in the eastern province of Zhejiang .
Zhejiang is home to several private companies emerging on the global stage after the government relaxed limits on private business.
The city of Wenzhou , in the south of the province, already claims to produce most of China's cigarette lighters, 80 per cent of its eyeglasses and 60 per cent of its razors. Whole towns near Wenzhou have been turned over to niche industries, including electronic components in Hongqiao, electrical products in Liushi and buttons in Qiaotou.
When Wu Hui's father was trying to go through a maze of regulatory approvals to start manufacturing in Wenzhou what the mainland euphemistically calls 'health products', government officials called his goods obscene and said they would encourage lewd behaviour.
'But he argued that a vegetable knife could also be used for the wrong purpose,' recalled Mr Wu, who now handles domestic sales for the business as chairman of Wenzhou Adam and Eve Health Products.
