Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo by Su Qiaojiang/WeChat account: wenzhoufabu]
As Aug 8 marks Credit Day for Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province, the city has made strong progress developing itself into a trustworthy city over the past two decades, local media outlets reported.
Wenzhou's credit ranking achieved a record performance by jumping to second place among 261 prefecture-level cities in China in 2021. Decades ago, people's feelings were mixed when it came to the credit of Wenzhou people.
On one hand, Wenzhou, as the birthplace of China's individual merchants and private manufacturing, has seen mutual trust between local businesspeople reach the point where there is "no need to leave written evidence to borrow money from each other". On the other hand, in the 1980s and 1990s regulators and shoe manufacturers targeted shoddy footwear in Wenzhou in three separate campaigns.
It is these twists and turns of losing and regaining credibility that have allowed Wenzhou people to realize the importance of credibility.
"Anyone who experienced the shoddy shoe-burning incident in 1987 will always remember the pain," said Wang Zhentao, chairman of Aokang, a leading homegrown shoe manufacturer in Wenzhou.
As it has taken Wenzhou 20 years to reshape its credit image, the city has witnessed its every street and corner gradually spruced up and the spirit of trustworthiness passed down from generation to generation.
Last year, Zhejiang set a goal to develop itself into a credit province in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, and Wenzhou is sure to lead the development with every concrete step.
