My guess is that the 'Wenzhou' model is everywhere to some degree, but I only really know about where I live (Fujian). I think there's two factors - (1) is tha

My guess is that the 'Wenzhou' model is everywhere to some degree, but I only really know about where I live (Fujian). I think there's two factors - (1) is that there haven't been many great places to invest money, so rich people throw them into houses, stock bubbles and 'alternative' non-legal investments (like lending groups). (2) is a generalisation, but Chinese people tend to be quite speculative - I guess a few years ago the average Brit would be happy with a 4.5% return on a 2year bank bond, whereas many Chinese people are more willing to take much riskier investments with possibly much higher returns. As for ignoring laws, the whole-country model (not just Wenzhou) is that many laws are ignored until the government decides to crack down on something. When they decide to crack down, you react quickly. So, for example this month in Fuzhou it's fire safety month, and everyone is suddenly getting their fire-safety certificates in order. Next month it might be traffic, or health... who knows :)