Abstract: The Mountain Lake Town was originally an obscure town of Zhuji City, Zhejiang. It is now enjoying the reputation of “Hometown for Pearl”. This case describes how Mountain Lake Town survived and thrived in various challenges and crises under the joint action of local government and the market and finally realized the perfect transformation from a simple pearl farming industry to a complete industrial chain with overall upgrading. This is not only the history of pearl industry development of Mountain Lake Town, but also reflects the typical path of growth for industrial clusters in Zhejiang. This case tries to deepen our understanding of the development of industrial clusters in Zhejiang as well as the laws of economic development through the development of the town's pearl industry from scratch, from small to large, and finally becomes world's largest fresh water pearl breeding, processing and trading center.
