Wenzhou Business and Economy: Wenzhou People in the Business World

Author: Liu Xiaofen / Xu Chuanyun (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: In the vast tide of commerce, the ebb and flow are ordinary, yet extraordinary. The Huizhou merchants, Zhejiang merchants, Cantonese merchants, Minnan merchants, Jiangsu merchants, and Wenzhou merchants have risen and fallen generation after generation, seemingly ordinary yet extraordinary—as the law of the commercial tide, the rise and fall are ordinary, but only those who strive forward, never stop, are not satisfied, and are willing to endure hardships can stand at the forefront of the tide! It is such merchants who create the moving myths of wealth and compose the magnificent symphony of the times. To understand the origins and developments of national commerce, read this series of books; to gain the subtle strategies and sound policies of Chinese business, read this series of books; to comprehend the flow and transformation of the commercial sea from past to present, read this series of books. Wenzhou, with its gentle and reserved nature, is located in the southeastern corner of China, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with steep peaks and deep valleys, and difficult land transportation. A long-standing problem for the people of Wenzhou has been: scarcity of food and clothing, and hopelessness in establishing careers. What to do? The unique personality of the Wenzhou people has made them, since ancient times, aware of their fate yet not resigned to it, believing in fate yet not submitting to it. As a result, generation after generation of Wenzhou people carried their pedlar's baskets and pushed their one-wheeled carts, leaving their hometowns and traveling far and wide. They relied on their meager skills and two pairs of straw sandals to cross mountains and rivers, seeking their own livelihood. Today, the transformed Wenzhou merchants always find markets where none exist, seize opportunities in the chaotic commercial sea, and carve out a bloody path in the gaps of the little-known marginal economy, thus creating one modern myth of commerce after another. To understand the origins and developments of Chinese merchants, one cannot afford to ignore the Wenzhou people in the business world.