Wenzhou, a coastal prefecture-level city in southern Zhejiang, is synonymous with private entrepreneurship. The term
温商 ("Wenzhou merchants") became a byword in the reform era for aggressive family-run private capital — everything from lighters and glasses to shoes and real-estate speculation. The local
温州话 Wenzhounese dialect is famously unintelligible to other Chinese speakers and was reportedly used as a battlefield code during the Sino-Vietnamese War.
