Sharp Eyes for Bonanza of Wealth

By staff reporter LIU QIONG

A wholesale shoe market in Wenzhou.

LIKE any reporter headed to places like Wenzhou today, this writer was prepared for conversations dominated by doom and gloom – how the world financial crisis had martyred the city's small and medium-sized private enterprises. I was surprised to find confidence and optimism prevailing.

    Anyone I talked to, whether private entrepreneurs, spokespeople for local trade associations, or government officials, all stressed the positive side of the crisis. Every industry, it seemed, had found a silver lining in the cloud. Zheng Chen'ai, chairman of the Wenzhou Fashion Association, pointed out the financial crisis has directed the government's attention to small and medium-sized enterprises, prompting an increase in export tax rebates and loan supports to the sector, thus allowing them a respite to regain their feet. Fan Chongguo, secretary for the Board of Directors, Zhejiang Quartz Crystal Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd., remarks that the financial crisis has brought down asset prices, providing his enterprise more opportunities for acquisition and expansion.

    These are Wenzhou people and Wenzhou spirit, and those like them have been celebrated in literature. The writer Ye Yonglie uses a metaphor to underpin his essay "Wenzhouness in Europe." The story tells of a Wenzhou ship seeking to deliver a cargo of local crabs to the Netherlands. The Dutch customs ban these imports, so the Wenzhou merchant dumped them into the sea nearby. The stubborn creatures, bent on survival, swam ashore. They settled and thrived where they landed, and a few years later Chinese crabs were found everywhere in the Netherlands. It is remarked that these crabs represent the Wenzhou people.

    Another popular tale concerns an old lady who was never able to read or speak Putonghua (standard Chinese), but nevertheless managed, in the early 1980s, to amass a fortune of tens of thousands when the annual income of the average Chinese was merely a few hundreds. She trudged across a greater part of the country purchasing rabbit hair door to door. The problem of her illiteracy was addressed by two slips of paper. The one in her left pocket read, "I'm from Wenzhou's Pingyang County, please help me buy a train/bus ticket." The one in her right pocket read, "I'm buying rabbit hair. How much is a kilo?"

    There are many such stories in Wenzhou, though the precise secret of business success varies from case to case. But one thing they all have in common is that the Wenzhou "clan" member has grasped firmly and resolutely the chances that have come his or her way.

    Resourcefulness, resolution and solidarity characterize a Wenzhou business operator. When the financial crisis hit the export-oriented coastal economy, the first legion of more than 20 Wenzhou shoemakers and garment manufacturers turned to cities less profoundly affected, entering Tianjin's Maigo Shopping Mall as a holistic entity named "Wenzhou Famous Brands Shopping Center." Other Wenzhou brands are expected to follow soon. Their aim is to form alliances and focus on penetrating the domestic markets of 100 big and medium-sized Chinese cities.

    Far from being ruthless however, Wenzhou people are also known for their generosity and team spirit. News of a business opportunity will quickly spread from home to home and village to village, often mobilizing whole towns into clusters of specialized scale production. Today Wenzhou has 33 such national production bases.

    The people of Wenzhou are braving the economic slowdown. They don't need our pity, but deserve our admiration instead – for their sharp eyes and minds, their business savvy and determination. Saying good-bye to them I realized that what the world lacks is not fortune, but the eyes to discover it.