Wenzhou: a business hotspot

The city, boasting thousands of years of trading experience, is one of China's growth engines

Wenzhou, a major city in Zhejiang province, has won national fame in recent years for its booming private investment and asset expansion as well as its fast economic growth.

With a history dating back to the Kingdom of Dong'ou more than 2,200 years ago, Wenzhou, previously known as Bailu, or White Deer, began its rise to economic prominence in the early 1980s. Before then, the city, located in the southeastern coastal region, was little more than a market town with a flourishing agriculture and cottage industry.

About five thousand years ago, a troop of the ancient Yue people moved from the north and settled on the sloping fields, with hills behind and the sea in front, at the middle and lower reaches between the Oujiang and Feiyun rivers. Their life consisted of fishing, hunting and primitive farming through successive generations.Those Yue people were the original founders of Wenzhou, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Dong'ou in 192 BC, later becoming Yongjia Prefecture in AD 323.

Legend has it that a white deer holding a flower in its mouth passed as the city was being built. In AD 675, the settlement beganto be called Wenzhou. Historically, it was a city renowned for its handicrafts and also as one of the birthplaces of the Celadon variety of ceramics. Wenzhou's skill in papermaking, silks, embroidery, lacquer work, and shoes and leather products was renowned throughout the country.