Wenzhou

The Wenzhounese are already China's savviest bankers, having operated a large and illegal curb market for decades under the noses of dis-approving authorities. It is the source of most of the capital fuelling the growth of the region's emerging corporate giants, according to Huang Fajing, owner of Wenzhou's Rifeng Lighter Co.

The level of trust that makes such mutual aid possible is a point of pride among Wenzhou entrepreneurs. Every industry concentrates dozens of large and small suppliers in dense networks of competition and co-operation that the Wenzhounese call the "little-dog economy."

Such is the milieu that produced even the most polished of the new tycoons who have come to dominate the local economy. Zhou Dahu, his wife and son slept on the floor of the first tiny shop they rented when they started the eyewear company, Less than a decade later, the company occupies a brand-new five-storey factory with a swank showroom and offices. The Zhou family employs 3000 workers who hand-assemble a bewildering variety of sunglasses, totaling 20 million a year.

Mr. Zhou's smile set him apart from the norm among Wenzhou tycoons, most of whom go to work in no-name polo shirts, baggy trousers and rubber-soled shoes. Rifeng Lighter's Huang Fajing was declared businessman of the year by Chinese state television last year.

But locals are more apt to identify desperate poverty as the source of the Wenzhou spirit.

There's nothing unique about Wenzhou that explains its continuing success. Its advantage was hitting the ground running. And it will have to run even harder to keep ahead of other Chinese regions that are just beginning to enjoy the fruits of private capitalism. "It's not reasonable to expect Wenzhou always to stay out front," he said.