Zhejiang High-Quality Development Wenzhou Observation: Integrated Approaches to Open New Ideas

China News Network (Wenzhou) March 26 report (Zhang Yicong) On the 26th, the Wenzhou Economic and Commercial Federation (Wenzhou) conference on chamber of commerce organizations affiliated with the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce supporting high-quality development was held in Wenzhou.

On the scene, 176 chamber of commerce and association presidents and Party branch leaders gathered together. Among them, representatives from 5 chambers of commerce took the stage to deliver remarks. The content was concise and to the point—data, case studies, and pathways—reflecting local exploration in one region’s high-quality development.

March 26, 2025, at the site of the Wenzhou Economic and Commercial Federation (Wenzhou) conference on chamber of commerce organizations affiliated with the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce supporting high-quality development. Photo by Li Qiaoying

Look inward: rules become the “foundation” of the industry

In 2025, Wenzhou’s electrical and power equipment industry’s total industrial output value exceeded 300 billion yuan (Renminbi, the same applies below). Behind the expansion in scale, the problems of “involution”-style malignant competition and low-price homogeneous competition have followed closely.

“The solution to ‘involution’ is—look inward.” Wu Bingchi, Executive Vice President of the Wenzhou Electrical and Power Equipment Industry Association, Party Secretary of the Zhengtai Group, and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, shared experience on-site, saying: “We use rules as our lever to guide enterprises to shift from ‘price wars’ to ‘value wars.’”

As he said, the association has issued the “Initiative on Resisting ‘Involution’-Style Malignant Competition.” It has participated in nearly 1,000 different standards-related activities, published 8 group standards, and promoted two self-discipline covenants: industry conduct self-discipline and self-discipline in operating with integrity. The association also, together with the Yueqing City People’s Court, has built the “Yueqing City Electrical and Power Mediation Center,” exploring the “industry disputes handled by industry mediation” model. In 2025, this model successfully mediated 805 disputes, involving an amount of over 80 million yuan, with a success rate of over 90%. It was also selected as an excellent case in the national Federation of Industry and Commerce “Four-Good” chamber of commerce construction.

Similar to the electrical and power equipment industry, facing comparable difficulties, the Wenzhou Automotive Parts and Motorcycle Parts Association chose another “look inward” pathway—empowerment through the rule of law.

In 2025, the Wenzhou Dongxin Automotive Parts and Motorcycle Parts Commercial Mediation Center, initiated and established by the association, officially began operations. Throughout the year, it handled 761 commercial mediation cases, successfully mediated 206, involving 25.36 million yuan. The average time to resolve disputes was compressed to 10 days, saving enterprises more than 1 million yuan in litigation costs. Taking the Wenzhou Ruian People’s Court as an example, in the same year, the court’s filing rate for business cases involving enterprises in the automotive parts and motorcycle parts sector decreased by 47.41% year over year.

Behind this is the optimization of a law-based business environment, gradually becoming the “keystone” for industrial development. On-site,池仁虎, President of the Wenzhou Automotive Parts and Motorcycle Parts Industry Association and Chairman of Zhejiang Yahu Automobile Components Co., Ltd., said: “By confronting problems directly, we continue to amplify the demonstration effect of Wenzhou’s ‘industry disputes handled by industry mediation.’”

In addition, the President of the Wenzhou Sichuan Chamber of Commerce, Peng Cailin, also Chairman of Zhongke Hongbo Construction Co., Ltd., introduced the “internal circulation” model on-site. It provides another perspective for “looking inward”—by prioritizing procurement among member enterprises within the chamber of commerce and leveraging complementary strengths, forming a coordinated development pattern of “the chamber sets the stage and enterprises perform,” activating new development momentum by tapping potential internally.

Look outward: find “increment” in a broad market

If “look inward” is to stabilize the foundation, then “look outward” is to plan for the future.

In December 2024, the Wenzhou Hardware Chamber of Commerce for the first time organized 30 member enterprises to bring their respective core products and held Wenzhou Hardware Overseas “Micro-Connection Expo” in Malaysia. Before the exhibition, they precisely sorted out supply and demand lists; during the exhibition, designated personnel provided end-to-end docking and service; after the exhibition, they tracked and followed up on cooperation intentions to land them. At the first overseas event, intention orders totaling nearly 10 million yuan were reached.

“Small but refined; specialized but precise.” Cheng Jingkun, President of the Wenzhou Hardware Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of Zhejiang Carter Hardware Co., Ltd., summarized the essence of the “micro-connection expo” in these six words. For the many small and medium-sized enterprises, overseas exhibition expenses that can easily reach several hundred thousand yuan are a heavy burden. This model greatly lowers the overseas expansion threshold, giving more enterprises the opportunity to directly face overseas markets.

Go out and bring in. The association also continues to enhance the hosting capacity of China (Wenzhou) International Hardware and Smart Lock Exhibitions. Currently, the exhibition has obtained UFI international certification. While stepping into the ranks of international-brand exhibitions, it also creates revenue for the chamber of commerce of more than 1 million yuan each year, initially achieving “nurturing the chamber through commerce.”

If the hardware industry is a typical example of expanding markets overseas, then the Wenzhou Footwear and Leather Industry Association has anchored itself on the “outward expansion” track of industrial upgrading.

“For us, brand building is the general direction of industrial upgrading and market extension.” Zheng Laiyi, Executive Vice President of the Wenzhou Footwear and Leather Industry Association and Chairman of KANGNEE Group, frankly stated that empowering the footwear and leather industry with brands will bring new changes of higher value, higher quality, and higher trust.

Centered on brand building, on the one hand, the association closely grasps the “bull’s nose” of intellectual property, and takes the lead in establishing the Wenzhou Footwear and Leather Industry Alliance and the Digital Intelligence Footwear Manufacturing Industry Intellectual Property Alliance, helping enterprises build the value pathway from “intellectual value” to “capital.” On the other hand, the association promotes the establishment of a supplier chain and leverages centralized procurement advantages to reduce production costs for enterprises by about 10%, opening up online space for enterprises to improve product quality and efficiency.

A relevant person from the Wenzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce stated that in the next step, Wenzhou will take the “Four-Good” chamber of commerce construction as a starting point, guide chambers of commerce to focus on enterprises’ true needs, effectively carry out innovative services for enterprises, and continue to shine the “Two Healthy” demonstration zone’s golden brand of early leadership. (End)