Wenzhou is famous for the '
温州模式' (Wenzhou model) — private, family-run, light-manufacturing capitalism that took off in the 1980s. Wenzhou merchants run factories and shops in every Chinese city and across Europe (especially Italy and France).
温州话 is also notorious as one of the hardest Chinese topolects to understand — reportedly used as a 'code' by the PLA during the Sino-Vietnamese War.
