Wenzhou chamber of commerce Wenzhou economy

Wenzhou is located in the southeast coast, with dense rivers and mountainous areas. Before the reform and opening up, Wenzhou was a poor place. After the reform and opening up, Wenzhou's economy has developed extremely rapidly, and the Wenzhou model is world-famous. In 2006, Wenzhou's per capita GDP reached US$ 4,000, of which Longwan District's per capita GDP has exceeded US$ 1 10,000. Not only that, Wenzhou businessmen, Wenzhou Street, Wenzhou City and Wenzhou people invest all over the world, Wenzhou's GNP is much higher than GDP, Wenzhou people's actual disposable income is among the best in the country, and Wenzhou's private capital is very strong. Why has Wenzhou made such great achievements? Different people have different opinions. The author thinks that the miracle of Wenzhou's economy is caused by many factors, among which the geographical factor is the most important.

Congenital disease

First of all, the geographical factors of Wenzhou determine that Wenzhou has the innate conditions of urbanization and marketization.

Demographic statistics show that Wenzhou has a very large population, with a permanent population of over 9 million, including more than 3 million migrant workers in Wenzhou. The total population exceeds Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia, and is close to Xinjiang and Tibet. The land area of Wenzhou is only 1 1783 square kilometers, of which the mountainous area accounts for 90% of the total area and the flat area accounts for less than 10%. The mountainous area is not suitable for living, and the population has to live in the plain area under the mountain. In this way, more than 9 million people live on less than 10% of the land. Therefore, the concentration of population distribution in Wenzhou is particularly high. This feature of large population, small land, concentrated residence and inability to live on land determines that Wenzhou has a very high level of urbanization and a very high degree of urban-rural integration. The typical characteristics of developing countries-dual economy and social structure mentioned by economist Lewis are not obvious in Wenzhou. This population distribution and geographical characteristics determine that Wenzhou has the innate conditions for industrial revolution and urbanization.

Wenzhou is different from Hangjiahu area. "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below". Since ancient times, the richest place in Zhejiang Province is Hangjiahu Plain, while Wenzhou and southern Zhejiang are mountainous areas, which are relatively poor in history. However, after 1978' s reform and opening up, the economic development in Hangjiahu area is not as noticeable as that in Wenzhou area. What is the reason? I think it's because of geography. The geographical characteristics of mountainous areas determine that the level of urbanization in Wenzhou is very high, the dual economic structure between urban and rural areas is not obvious, and the level of urban-rural integration is naturally high. Since ancient times, people have lived along the river in the plains and water network areas of Hangjiahu area. People can reach their homes by boat, and the transportation is very convenient. This geographical feature determines that the residents in Hangjiahu area are scattered and people are unwilling to live in cities and towns, so the pace of urbanization is very slow and the level is very low. By 2006, there were less than 500,000 residents in Jiaxing and only 500,000 residents in Huzhou. At the same time, the population of Wenzhou alone is 165438+ 10,000. This geographical feature of Hangjiahu determines that the urban-rural dual structure in Hangjiahu area is obvious. Therefore, the economic development speed of Wenzhou is faster than that of Hangjiahu area.

A place where business gangs hang out.

Second, the geographical features of Wenzhou determine that Wenzhou is the territory of commercial gangs.

The geographical features of Wenzhou are a large population, little land, far away from the political center, almost all mountainous areas, and many coastal and Neijiang rivers. This geographical feature plays a very important role in shaping businessmen's character and forming business gangs. There are a lot of people, and they are far away from the political center, which makes people here unable to make a living by land and politics and have to go out to do business; There are many mountainous areas, coastal areas and inland rivers, which not only make it possible for people here to engage in commodity management, but also help to form a kind, steady, low-key, flexible, pioneering and United businessman character. This view can be proved by the emergence and development of Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants in ancient China and the economic development of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan Province Province, Hongkong and Singapore after World War II.

Similarities with Huizhou merchants

Huizhou merchants in ancient China were very famous. The hometown of Huizhou merchants is Huangshan City, Anhui Province (formerly Anhui Province) and Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. Why did this place produce Huizhou merchants? Its geographical characteristics are the main reasons. This area is a mountainous area with a large population and few people. Local resources can't feed the people here. Huizhou, who is thirteen or fourteen years old, has gone abroad. This shows that this area is very poor and parents can't afford to raise their children. When they are thirteen or fourteen, they will be sent out to make a living. In ancient times, there were no roads, and traffic depended almost entirely on shipping. There is a river in Huizhou called Xin 'anjiang. The middle reaches of Xin 'an River are called Fuchun River and the lower reaches are called Qiantang River. Qiantang River is directly connected to the sea and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Those children whose parents can't train in Huizhou naturally go downstream and enter Hangzhou, Suzhou and the Grand Canal. The mountains and rivers in their hometown and the hardships of life have become the driving force for them to work hard in the business world. A generation of Huizhou merchants came into being.

Today, we observe and analyze the causes of Wenzhou merchants, and we can see the back of Huizhou merchants in those days. The geographical features of Wenzhou are very similar to those of southern Anhui. In ancient China, there was a saying that "there is no business without emblem", and today there is a saying that "there is no business without temperature". The history of geographical features creating a generation of business gangs is repeated in Wenzhou today.

Similarities with Biniki people

In ancient times, there was a people named Binici in the west. Binici is a natural trading country. Binici lives in today's Lebanon, near the Mediterranean Sea, which is basically a mountainous area with almost no flat land. The mountains are covered with dense forests. The Biniji people could not make a living by farming, so they had to cut down trees on the mountains to build ships and sail in the Mediterranean. Geographical characteristics determine the survival and production mode of Biniji people and create their trading temperament. It can be said that the geographical characteristics determine that the Biniji people are a natural trading nation. The geographical features of Wenzhou are very similar to those of Biniji people. Wenzhou is also close to the ocean, and its territory is almost entirely mountainous. Wenzhou people have to trade in order to survive.

Same characteristic

Japan is an island country with few resources. Its population density is so high that it is difficult for Japan to support its population on land. It is difficult for Japan to make a living by agriculture. In ancient times, Japanese began to emigrate overseas, especially to the northeast of China. Japanese peasant families generally have many children. Generally, only the eldest son can inherit the land of his parents, and other children have no land. Therefore, Japanese immigrants to the northeast of China are generally the second and third children, even the old eight and Laojiu, and the eldest brother generally inherits his parents' land in Japan. After Japan's defeat, many Japanese living in China or other countries returned to their hometown in Japan to look for their eldest brother. This kind of scene can be found in many literary works. This shows that Japan's geographical and demographic characteristics determine that the Japanese lifestyle must be expansionary. After World War II, the possibility of Japan's foreign aggression disappeared. To this end, the Japanese chose the basic national policy of building a country through trade. Great changes have taken place in Japan's domestic industrial structure, the proportion of agriculture in GDP has decreased, the Japanese people's dependence on land has decreased, and the contradiction between man and land in China has eased. Japan's economic development benefits from the national policy of building a country through trade, and is also accompanied by the rise of Japanese merchant gangs. Comparing the Wenzhou business group of Wenzhou businessmen with the Japanese business group of Japanese businessmen, we can find that Wenzhou and Japan have the same geographical characteristics. It is this geographical feature that has created Wenzhou economy, Wenzhou businessmen and Wenzhou business gangs.

Market oriented economy

Third, the geographical features of Wenzhou determine that Wenzhou is a market economy.

World economic history shows that a country or region has two modes of economic development: resource-based and market-based. Resource-based means relying on mountains to eat, relying on water to eat, and producing whatever products are available. The resources here mainly refer to natural resources; Marketization means facing the market, producing whatever the market needs, and creating artificial advantages according to market needs. Northeast China is a typical resource-based economy, while the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta in the south are typical market-oriented economies. Shanxi province is famous for its Shanxi merchants in history. After liberation, the development of resources depends on the economy, and coal has become the pillar of Shanxi. The employment, finance and GDP of the whole province basically depend on coal, and the economy lacks vitality. The world-famous Shanxi merchants have disappeared. Internationally, the Middle East is an oil economy. Although it is rich in petrodollars, its economic and social development level is very backward. The economic development of the Asian Four Little Dragons represented by Japan is a typical market-oriented type. The history of world economic development also proves that the efficiency of market-oriented economy is higher than that of resource-based economy.

Why is the benefit of resource-based economic development not as good as marketization? We know that comparative advantage is only the cause of division of labor. After the division of labor, it will be strengthened by the investment of specialization, and even change its absolute advantage because of specialization. The problem of division of labor according to comparative advantage in those areas with natural resources is that these time-consuming and laborious expertise (scientific name "human capital") only takes care of the special taste of the market, and once it leaves, it is useless. This is the problem brought by specialization. The human capital formed by specialized investment is only effective under a specific market structure, and without a specific market structure, it will depreciate sharply. This specialized investment form has a special name in economics, which is called "relationship-specific investment". Market-oriented regions are different. Market-oriented investment, from a social point of view, is of course professional, but it is not relationship-specific, and it is equally useful everywhere. Most importantly, the value of this investment has little to do with the availability of resources. The key to the problem lies in the exchange and specialization between resource-dependent regions and market-oriented regions. Therefore, resource-dependent regions have to rely on market-oriented regions to benefit from resource investment, while market-oriented regions do not have to rely on resource-dependent regions to the same extent. Since their division of labor, their status has become so asymmetric.

It is difficult to realize resource utilization.

The geographical features of Wenzhou determine that there is no way to develop a resource-based economy in Wenzhou, because there are almost no natural resources in the coastal area of 100 kilometers, which determines that Wenzhou does not have the conditions to develop a resource-based economy, but because of its geographical features of many rivers and being near the sea, it has the conditions to develop a market-based economy. In this way, the geographical characteristics of Wenzhou determine that Wenzhou cannot develop a resource-based economy, but must and can develop a market-based economy. This mode of economic development is just a mode with high economic efficiency. Therefore, Wenzhou's economic development speed and efficiency are higher than other places.

Block distribution

Fourthly, the geographical characteristics of Wenzhou determine the "block distribution" and "sweet potato economy" of Wenzhou economy.

Wenzhou is a typical economic "block distribution" development area, and the same small commodity production enterprises gather together to form a particularly large-scale small commodity production cluster. Household appliances in Liushi, tanning in Longwan, pen industry in Puxin, valves in Oubei, buttons at bridgehead, printing in Longgang, auto parts in Ruian, gifts from Pingyang, pet food in Shuitou, shipbuilding in Yueqing, furniture in Lingxi, etc., are very influential all over the country and the world. Why is this "block distribution" formed? The author thinks it can be interpreted from the perspective of Wenzhou's regional characteristics.

Wenzhou is almost all mountainous, and there is no large flat land. The population of Wenzhou can only be distributed at the foot of the mountain, and the flat land has gradually become a small town. Wenzhou is very poor in natural resources. In agricultural society, one side of the soil and water can't support one side. In order to survive and develop, Wenzhou people have to set sail. Wenzhou is located in the southeast coastal area. Every year from July to June, 10, there are natural disasters such as typhoons, strong winds, heavy rains and mudslides. In order to resist these natural disasters, Wenzhou people have to strengthen their sense of cooperation. Facing the ocean, facing the mountains and facing the typhoon, Wenzhou people have to help each other in the same boat, share the same fate with the breath and be connected by blood. 1978, in the face of the tide of reform and opening up, this * * * body naturally set off a wave of holding industry. The geographical features of Wenzhou and the character of Wenzhou people based on this geographical feature determine the "block distribution" of Wenzhou economy.

Sweet potato economy

Wenzhou has millions of people doing business at home and abroad all the year round. In addition, in recent ten years, a large number of local enterprises in Wenzhou have migrated abroad. Why do Wenzhou enterprises have a certain degree of emigration? Why are Wenzhou people who love their hometown willing to do business outside all the year round? Relevant scholars call this phenomenon "sweet potato economy", so how is the "sweet potato economy" formed?

On the one hand, the geographical features of Wenzhou determine the limitations of Wenzhou's environment and resources, and determine that Wenzhou's environment and resources are limited to the development of enterprises, which determines that the scale of local development of Wenzhou enterprises is very limited. On the other hand, the geographical characteristics of Wenzhou determine that Wenzhou people have to travel frequently in order to obtain market, information and various factors of production. This determines and makes Wenzhou's "sweet potato economy". When the local development of enterprises in Wenzhou is restricted by environment and resources, Wenzhou people will naturally move their enterprises out. However, because of their life and struggle experience, Wenzhou people's enterprises are very United when they go to the outside world and have a strong sense of hometown. No matter where you are, you must form a formal or informal group, which is why there are Wenzhou Chambers of Commerce all over the country and even the world. The geographical features of Wenzhou determine the character of Wenzhou people who love their homes and don't keep their land, which is the real reason for Wenzhou's "sweet potato economy".